The message they heard was clean -Corporate sabotage and corruption are plaguing private industry in Russia and hampering the development of the market economy.
Speakers at the International Conference on Business and Security at the International Trade Center portrayed the security industry here as struggling to catch up with the growth of private enterprise in the former Soviet Union.
"Unfortunately, many of our new businessmen entered business through crime", said Alexander Pekhotin, representing parliament's Committee for Law and the Struggle With Criminal Actions.
He said the country needs tight government regulations and licensing procedures for security firms and private detectives and laws that will protect computer software and electronic information systems.
Vyecheslav Saltagonov of the Interior Ministry said that 110, 000 crimes against businesses and 4, 500 bribery charges have been prosecuted since the beginning of the year.
He cited banking, agriculture and export as the most fertile areas for corruption.
Western security experts said they were sympathetic with the needs here for improved commercial security.
"Our primary purpose is to share our experiences and establish business relationships", said Gerard Burke, formerly head of President Richard Nixon's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, an ex-CIA official and leader of the foreign delegation.
Burke, who now heads his own private security firm in a Washington, D. C. , suburb, and retired Rear Admiral Jan Ingebrigtsen, former chief of intelligence for the Norwegian government, said they were struck by the openness of officials at the Russian Security Ministry, formerly the KGB.
Both men hope to establish joint ventures with Russian security firms.
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