A Russian deputy defence minister has been detained on suspicion of bribe-taking, the country’s top law enforcement agency has said, a rare move amid the offensive in Ukraine.
The investigative committee reported Timur Ivanov’s detention on Tuesday without offering any details of the accusations against him, saying only that he is suspected of taking an especially large bribe….
“Especially large” is the crime. Which does tell us something about bribery in the Russian system.
Back when the first question in business there was “Who do we bribe?” The second was “How much do we bribe them?” It was only when we got to third in the list that we got the “For what? What are we trying to do here?”
Bribery really was first and second.
No, really, really. The route to success was to look around and work out who you knew, who you had access to, what bribing them would give you access to. Only then did you decide what line of business you were going to go into.
“Especially large”, or “especially large without giving his boss a sufficient cut”?
“especially large without giving his boss a sufficient cut”
I think you’ve got it BiW!!
This is of course totally different from the pristine aura surrounding the Washington beltway because reasons
https://www.npr.org/2021/05/19/997961646/the-pentagon-has-never-passed-an-audit-some-senators-want-to-change-that
Similarly Fauci, Whitty, Valance etc etc have been as pure as the driven snow in their dealings with the pharmaceutical companies and all Western elected officials leave office poorer than when they were elected.
Maybe the scale of the bribe has had a material impact on the ‘special operation’ in Ukraine and Putin has just found out?
The fact that he’s been arrested, instead of falling out of a window or dying in a mysterious grenade accident in a plane, suggests something but I’m not sure what.
But quite likely the Ukraine war has uncovered much more corruption in the Russian armed forces than the Russian government is willing to put up with now, and this guy is the lucky example who’s going to spend much of the rest of his life in Siberia.
“Especially large” is the crime. Which does tell us something about bribery in the Russian system.
“Especially large” means over 1 million roubles, or about £8,500. This is why Russia is successful in Africa, they know how bribes work.
Just as likely is that this guy was actually trying to do something about corruption and so was set up with accusations of the same. It wouldn’t be the first time.
PJF – Just as likely is that this guy was actually trying to do something about corruption
Mate. He’s a Russian politician who’s also been working in state owned energy businesses for years.
The chances of this guy being innocent of bribe taking are pretty low I would suggest. Probably has some very nice dachas and cars for a man on a public sector salary.
– The chances of this guy being innocent of bribe taking are pretty low I would suggest.
Indeed, but that doesn’t preclude what I said. You have just said pretty much the same: ” . . . more corruption in the Russian armed forces than the Russian government is willing to put up with now . . . “
The corrupt-as-fuck Russian government wants less corruption and tasks the corrupt-as-fuck officials to deal with the corrupt-as-fuck officials. May the best corruption win.
PJF – The corrupt-as-fuck Russian government wants less corruption and tasks the corrupt-as-fuck officials to deal with the corrupt-as-fuck officials. May the best corruption win
Pretty much, yeah.
But like Norfolk, it’s all relatives, yarp? The Russian government is making big investments in their military industrial complex. Some of that money will inevitably be stolen (by members of the Russian government), but they’ll likely want to reduce shrinkage, because for the Russian state this is an existential conflict they dare not lose.
Brilliant by PJF.
For more brilliance (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhfWz22KRcY)
. . . because for the Russian state this is an existential conflict they dare not lose.
Existential for the government (aka Putin gang) maybe, but the Russian state is not imperilled by losing.