Medvedev: Russia has three woes - fools, roads and corruption
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KHABAROVSK, November 11 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that corruption is Russia's third major problem, along with fools and roads.
At a conference with regional journalists, Medvedev was asked to comment on the old popular saying, "Russia has two woes - fools and roads." He was asked whether the saying, often attributed to 19th century Russian novelist Nikolai Gogol, has changed by now. "You won't believe me if I say that it has changed," Medvedev said. "Those two problems persist."
"Speaking about other misfortunes, I would like to mention another problem, which is also purely historical," Medvedev said. "Corruption remains one of the most dangerous and most serious problems of our society."
He sad the problem of corruption was deeply rooted in the Russian society, "it persisted for centuries and is yet to be solved."
"However, I'm not ashamed of our efforts [against corruption] in the past years," he said.
"For the first time ever, we have laid down anti-corruption legislation."
