An order from Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin about officials accepting gifts received on business trips and other official events has been published. According to the Civil Code, a civil servant may accept a gift only in those cases and can never accept any "package" handed over in a personal meeting in his office.
Kudrin told Vedomosti that he, like all his members of staff, passes on expensive gifts to the administrative department. "I recently handed in a beautiful vase of some kind of special glass from Pittsburgh that I was given by Obama," he said. "As finance minister, I am often presented with coins from other countries."
To the question of how he is going to control his subordinates, Kudrin replied, "We have methods for controlling colleagues.”
As a finance ministry official said, it is unlikely that the exact worth of a gift will be strictly kept to 3,000 rubles ($102), since the law is intended to stop the donation of cars and apartments as bribes.
… we have a small favor to ask. As you may have heard, The Moscow Times, an independent news source for over 30 years, has been unjustly branded as a "foreign agent" by the Russian government. This blatant attempt to silence our voice is a direct assault on the integrity of journalism and the values we hold dear.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. Our commitment to providing accurate and unbiased reporting on Russia remains unshaken. But we need your help to continue our critical mission.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and you can be confident that you're making a significant impact every month by supporting open, independent journalism. Thank you.
Remind me later.