Vladislav Surkov, the Kremlin’s first deputy chief of staff, addressing an April meeting of Nashi, the pro-government youth organization, has accused the country’s liberal opposition politicians of fueling rampant corruption, thus making them targets of attacks for the organization’s activists.
“It was the liberal politicians, who masterminded the practice of buying officials in exchange for state services in the business circles in the 1990s,” he added. “Today, the same people that created a scheme that institutionalized corruption are blaming the government and preparing different types of anti-corruption reports.”
Though Surkov did not mention any names, it was clear that he was referring, amongst others, to liberal opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who has relentlessly claimed that corruption over the past decade has worsened under the Medevdev-Putin tandem leadership.
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