By Oleg Shchedrov
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's new president, Dmitry Medvedev,launched a crusade against corruption on Monday, following atradition established by his Kremlin predecessors.
Less than two weeks after taking office, Medvedev said hewould sign a decree on new anti-corruption measures on Monday,according to a speech posted on the Kremlin.ru website.
Medvedev, a 42-year-old former corporate lawyer, waselected in March with the help of his popular predecessorVladimir Putin on promises to modernise the Russian economy andgive Russians decades of social stability.
"It is obvious that corruption is a threat to any state,"Medvedev told security and judicial officials in the Kremlin.
"It damages the business environment, weakens the state andhurts its image. But the main thing, corruption underminespopular trust in the government."
Corruption has been a Russian evil for many years.
Russia's first president, Boris Yeltsin, rallied popularsupport in his struggle against the Communist leadership bypromising to root out corruption.
In fact, corruption mushroomed after he took office,following the collapse of the Communist empire in 1991.
Putin has presided over eight years of unprecedentedeconomic growth. But his initial promises to crack down oncorruption have failed to materialise.
"The level of corruption remains extremely high," Medvedevsaid. "In 2007 alone, 10,500 criminal cases involvingcorruption were launched, and we understand perfectly well thisis only the tip of the iceberg."
In one of Medvedev's first moves after his inauguration, heordered an end to arbitrary inspections of small firms byofficials, a typical way for officials to extort bribes.
On Monday, he said he wanted to modernise legislation toclose loopholes used by corrupt officials and to makegovernment purchases more transparent, as well as campaigningto change Russia's widespread tolerance of bribe-taking.
Russian news agencies said Medvedev's chief of staff,Sergei Naryshkin, would head a committee to coordinate the newcampaign. But they also quoted Prosecutor-General Yuri Chaikaas saying he did not precisely what measures were planned.
