2015 The Challenges of Corruption: Impact on Russia

This workshop explored the different types of, and extent of, corruption in Russia and/or affecting Russia: its sources, victimization, evolution over time, and ways of addressing the problems in the near future. It was supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Discussion Questions included:

-- What is the nature and extent of corruption in Russia?
-- How has it evolved over time and how is it different from other countries?
-- What are the drivers of and possible responses to corruption?
-- How is Russia affected or victimized by corrupt practices inside and outside the country?
-- How are private or public actors victimized outside Russia?
-- What is the role of the private sector in corruption?
-- Is there domestic or transnational private-to-private corruption affecting Russian interests?
-- How is corruption affecting peace and security?
-- How are international cooperation mechanisms operating between Russia and other States who are Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption - what can be done to improve them?
-- How could anti-corruption measures improve in domestic and international cases involving Russian interests and actors?
-- Is there media corruption or lack of integrity inside or outside Russia?

Convened by:

Nikos Passas, Professor, Northeastern University, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Co-Director of Institute for Security and Public Policy; Editor of Crime, Law and Social Change: an International Journal

Participants:

Anders Agerskof, Lead Specialist, Preventive Services Unit, Integrity Vice Presidency, World Bank

Olga Bataman, Producer, Worlds Apart, RT

Jack Blum, Chairman, Tax Justice Network; former United States Senate staff attorney, involved in numerous well-known investigations, including the investigation of Bank of Credit and Commerce International, General Noriega’s drug trafficking and Lockheed’s overseas bribes; former Special Counsel, Senate Foreign Relations Committee (1987-1989)

Oksana Boyko, Host, Worlds Apart, RT; former Political Correspondent and Foreign Correspondent, RT

Birgit Hansl, Lead Economist for the Russian Federation and Country Sector Coordinator in the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network in the Europe and Central Asia Region, World Bank

Matthew Murray, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa for the International Trade Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce

Mrjana Visentin, Attorney and International Legal Collaboration Expert, specializing in human rights; former Member, Improvement of Access to Justice in the Russian Federation, Technical Aid to the Commonwealth of Independent States (TACIS), European Union

Mark Wolf, former US District Chief Judge of Massachusetts, having presided over hearings in the late 1990s that exposed the FBI’s corrupt relationship with informants Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi and James “Whitey” Bulger; advocating for an International Anti-Corruption Court