The Evolution of Crimes and Punishments of the Corruption Origin in Russia

The article examines the evolution of the category «corruption» in pre-revolutionary Russia, as well as its various manifestations and punishments for corrupt actions.The authors analyzed numerous legislative acts in force in various periods of the existence of the Russian state, as well as measures that taken at the state level to combat corruption.According to the authors, the emergence of corruption is primarily due to the expectation of significant benefits from corrupt actions, the influence of officials' decisions on the allocation of limited resources.The formation of the Russian Empire accompanied by such phenomena as favoritism, abuse of power, distribution of privileges, extortion and bribery.Over time, the state began to attach great importance to anti-corruption issues, many legislative acts aimed at combating corruption adopted, officials convicted of corruption punished regardless of rank and merit, a ban was imposed on combining public service with commerce, etc.The study found that by the end of the XIX century, the experience of legislative and social measures against corruption crimes had been accumulated.These actions of the state led to the fact that at the beginning of the XX century in Russia, corruption in the highest echelons of power in Russia was practically absent, not a single case of abuse and bribery was established.There were manifestations of corruption at the lower and middle levels of government, but the measures taken by the country's leadership to combat corruption for a long time made it possible to achieve real success in pre-revolutionary Russia and become one of the least corrupt European states.