SERGEI MIRONOV. PUBLICATION DIGEST. July 12 - 18, 2010

President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday said corruption permeated everyday life in Russia, warning anti-graft efforts would be fruitless unless ordinary Russians stopped handing out bribes. Upper house speaker Sergei Mironov said that the majority of those convicted of corruption were punished for giving bribes worth between 500 rubles (16 dollars) and 3,000 rubles (98 dollars).

Russia’s “sicknote” politicians will at least now be forced to produce a good reason for not attending parliamentary sessions. The State Duma has since accepted changes to the regulations that stipulate that the MP have to be present at the plenary sessions. Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov has been advocating the amendments for a long time, RIA Novosti reported. “Any MP, and any senator, who is receiving a massive, in Russian terms, salary must be aware that coming to the sessions is his main responsibility, for which he gets paid a lot of taxpayers’ money,” he said.