According to Reuter Moscow “a fifth of Russia’s state defence spending is stolen every year by corrupt officials, dishonest generals and crooked contractors.” The press release reports the comments of chief military prosecutor Sergei Fridinsky, who says: “Huge money is being stolen – practically every fifth rouble and the troops are still getting poor quality equipment and arms.”
Fridinsky did not give specific figures, but Russia has set more than 1.5 trillion roubles (32 billion pounds) for national defence in its 2011 budget, indicating theft of more than $10 billion (6 billion pounds) a year from the sector.
In a related story, the Prime Time Russia channel investigates the connection between financial irregularities and the recent string of mishaps of russian launchers.
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