Medvedev Does Not Rule Out Paid Informants, Disgusted By Idea
Interfax - 3.22.12 - JRL 2012-55

MOSCOW. March 22 (Interfax) - President Dmitry Medvedev has a mixed attitude to the idea of paying people for reporting crimes, including bribery.

file photo"It's an almost Biblical theme - whether being a paid informant is good or bad... ... You know, I don't have an answer to this question," Medvedev told an Open government working group on Thursday.

The issue was brought up by one of the participants.

"On the one hand, the idea makes me, like any other person, feel disgusted. On the other hand, when I look at the experience of the so-called advanced states - it's helpful," Medvedev said.

People in those states do it because of awareness that someone nearby behaves incorrectly, immorally or illegally, rather than for money, he remarked.

"That's why I would not exaggerate the motivating role of money here. But on the whole, stimulating denunciation of crimes is an absolutely essential thing in the United States and other fairly highly developed democracies," Medvedev said.

A similar system existed in the Soviet Union, although at a certain period it "assumed an entirely different dimension", he added.

"Those who wrote denunciations back then were not paid. Virtually no one did it for money. The majority did it from the best of motives. But we all know how it ended," Medvedev said.

Keywords: Russia, Corruption - Russian News - Russia

MOSCOW. March 22 (Interfax) - President Dmitry Medvedev has a mixed attitude to the idea of paying people for reporting crimes, including bribery.

file photo"It's an almost Biblical theme - whether being a paid informant is good or bad... ... You know, I don't have an answer to this question," Medvedev told an Open government working group on Thursday.

The issue was brought up by one of the participants.

"On the one hand, the idea makes me, like any other person, feel disgusted. On the other hand, when I look at the experience of the so-called advanced states - it's helpful," Medvedev said.

People in those states do it because of awareness that someone nearby behaves incorrectly, immorally or illegally, rather than for money, he remarked.

"That's why I would not exaggerate the motivating role of money here. But on the whole, stimulating denunciation of crimes is an absolutely essential thing in the United States and other fairly highly developed democracies," Medvedev said.

A similar system existed in the Soviet Union, although at a certain period it "assumed an entirely different dimension", he added.

"Those who wrote denunciations back then were not paid. Virtually no one did it for money. The majority did it from the best of motives. But we all know how it ended," Medvedev said.