Bribery exists almost everywhere in one form or another. All countries suffer from corruption to some extent. Even if local citizens are not used to handling problems in such a way, there are foreign visitors who can spread this "virus".
Unfortunately, humanity hasn’t invented a magic pill against this disease. Nowadays, corrupt officials still neglect harsh laws, like in China, though civil servants of various levels are regularly sentenced to capital punishment. By contrast, a human attitude bears no fruit, like in Russia, where bribe-takers can get off such a crime with a house arrest. All we can do is to sit on the sidelines and analyze statistics. That is what the United Nations is doing. According to recent data, the annual amount of bribes in the world is estimated at one trillion dollars. The UN experts also reported that, due to bribes and corruption, the world economy is losing another $2.6 trillion annually. Moreover, in developing countries, corruption-related losses exceed the amount of official development assistance by 10 times. Even though Russia is not a developed country but it is in the top five in terms of corruption. During the recent Eastern Economic Forum, which was established by Russian President Vladimir Putin, corruption was recognized the main problem for businesses in Russia.
This data is confirmed by Transparency International, a non-governmental international organization against corruption. Russia was named one of the most corrupt countries in Europe and Central Asia. In particular, experts stressed a high level of corruption among officials and public tolerance towards bribery.
