Fighting corruption is a pillar of security

The Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation held a roundtable discussion titled Interaction of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation with International Organizations on Countering Corruption. According to the press service of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, the event was attended by members of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, deputies of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, representatives of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Ministry of Justice, General Prosecutor’s Office and the academia. It was chaired by Vyacheslav Timchenko, Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on the Rules of Procedure and Parliamentary Governance.
In his speech, Mr Timchenko noted that international cooperation plays a special role in combating corruption, since it knows no national borders. “Openness and a spirit of constructive cooperation – this is how we can characterize the work carried out by the Federation Council together with the Prosecutor General’s Office and other agencies to ensure that our country takes part in various international anti-corruption formats,” Mr Timchenko noted.
He said that the Federation Council Committee ensures the anti-corruption interaction of the Federation Council with international organizations and, above all, with the Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO). “We are carefully studying the GRECO’s recommendations and their implementation assessments. We are constantly working to improve the legal regulation of this sphere, both legislative and intradepartmental,” Mr Timchenko said.
Sergei Mamedov, deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on the Rules of Procedure and Parliamentary Governance, said in his speech that in 2017, based on the results of the fourth round of GRECO evaluation of the Russian Federation, anti-corruption recommendations were given in relation to MPs, judges and prosecutors.
“Extensive work was carried out to amend the current legislation and agency regulations to implement these recommendations, which was appreciated by GRECO plenary session in December 2019 in Strasbourg,” the parliamentarian said.
In his turn, Anatoly Vyborny, Chairman of the CSTO PA Standing Commission on Defence and Security and deputy Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Committee on Security and Corruption Control, noted that the implementation of certain GRECO recommendations is difficult because of the specifics of the national legal system.
“When considering legal recommendations of foreign experts, we should always proceed from our national interests. I have an impression that no matter what laws we adopt, the implementation of GRECO recommendations will never be enough. There will always be something else to fix and improve. After all, there will always be a reason to criticize Russia and belittle it in the international arena, including based on the development of anti-corruption legislation, even though our anti-corruption legislation is one of the most advanced in the world.
An analysis of the recommendations has shown that some parts of the recommendations have already been implemented, others require careful study and elaboration, and still others are clearly controversial. For example, the provisions that relate to parliamentarians’ communication with third parties, including the promotion of legislative initiatives proposed for inclusion in the Code of Ethics for MPs.
The fact is that a parliamentarian initially acts in the interests of constituents and promotes their interests. And if a constituent is confronted with a problem, the parliamentarian seeks both a thorough examination of that problem and its resolution, especially if it is related to the violation of constitutional rights of man and citizen. But even this, following the logic of GRECO recommendations, can be interpreted as a violation of the anti-corruption laws.
Or, for example, the GRECO recommendations concerning the initiation of inspections of parliamentarians’ declaration of income and expenses exclusively by the relevant parliamentary committees. After all, it is obvious that such a recommendation is clearly inconsistent with the powers of the President of Russia as the guarantor of the Constitution of Russia, which are directly enshrined in the Basic Law of our state.”
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization has repeatedly addressed the problem of combating corruption. For instance, on November 26, 2015, the CSTO PA plenary session adopted Recommendations on the Harmonization of the CSTO Member States’ Legislation Regulating Relations in the Area of Prevention and Countering of Corruption; on November 24, 2016, Recommended Glossary of Terms and Definitions of the CSTO Member States in Regulatory Support of Combating Corruption; in November 2019, Recommendations on Approximation of the CSTO Member States’ Laws on Confiscation of Property in the Interests of Combating Corruption, Financing of Terrorism and Other Types of Crime developed by the Federal Financial Monitoring Service of the Russian Federation.
Read more about the CSTO PA model legislation on countering corruption in the CSTO Model Legislation section on Thursday.

For reference:
The Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO) is an international organization established by the Council of Europe in 1999. Its main purpose is to help member states fight corruption.
GRECO sets anti-corruption standards (requirements) for state activities and monitors compliance with these standards. It identifies weaknesses in anti-corruption legislation and proposes legislative, institutional or operational measures.
GRECO provides a forum for sharing experience in corruption detection and prevention. The Group consists of 50 states. GRECO membership is not limited to Europe, but currently the only non-Eurasian state in the group is the United States.
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