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Taking part in the meeting were Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection Tatyana Blinova, State Secretary and Deputy Director of the Federal Security Service Yury Gorbunov, Deputy Prosecutor General Alexander Zvyagintsev, Deputy Minister of Justice Maxim Travnikov, Deputy Minister of Economic Development Alexei Likhachev, State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Construction, Housing and Utilities Alexander Plutnik, Chairman of the Central Election Commission Vladimir Churov and other invited officials.

Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev presented statistics on work to combat corruption in the housing and utilities sector. Over the first six months of 2014, the services responsible for economic security and combating corruption in the sector revealed 1,530 offences, of which nearly half (747), were corruption-related. Damages caused by criminal cases for which investigations are complete come to more than 2.2 billion rubles [more than $57 million]. Some of this money has already been recovered.

Deputy Prosecutor General Alexander Zvyagintsev, Deputy Justice Minister Maxim Travnikov and Deputy Economic Development Minister Alexei Likhachev reported on progress made in Russia’s implementation of recommendations from the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) and GRECO (Group of States against Corruption).

The three officials stressed that Russia will implement the OECD and GRECO recommendations, which were made on the basis of results from monitoring Russia’s compliance with anti-corruption conventions, taking into account Russia’s legal system.

Although talks on Russia’s accession to the OECD have been suspended for now, Russia wants to continue working with this international organisation in order to make use of its best practice and improve the conditions for the Russian economy’s long-term growth. Russia continues its regular and ongoing efforts to implement the GRECO recommendations and takes part in the group’s activities.

Head of the Presidential Directorate for Countering Corruption Oleg Plokhoi reported on anti-corruption efforts in the federal state agencies and the Russian regions, measures to boost human resources capability of departments responsible for preventing corruption and other violations, and proposals for improving their work. 

Overall, there were fewer reports and complaints from individuals and organisations in 2013 on cases of corruption involving state officials. At the same time, anti-corruption officials were swifter in responding to reports. 

The number of civil servants who reported attempts to encourage them into committing corruption-related offences increased by nearly 50 percent. As a result of these reports, the law enforcement agencies opened more than 1,900 criminal cases in 2013 and more than 1,100 people had criminal charges brought against them.

The Anti-Corruption Council Presidium’s meeting also discussed other matters that fall within its scope of responsibility.