The amount of corruption crimes in Russia has grown by almost one-third during the first six months of 2012, year-on-year, Vladimir Markin, Russia's Investigative Committee spokesman reports.

      “During the first half of 2012 IC investigators handled 15,800 cases on corruption-related crimes, which is 5,000 more than in the same period last year (10,400),” he said.

      At the same time Markin finds it significant to say that this rise is related to a higher crime clearance rate, noting that the proportion of unsolved corruption crimes was significantly lower than that in other kinds of crime.

      Corruption still remains one of the most difficult problems in Russia. Anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International ranks the country 143rd (out of 182) in its 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).