Bribery

A traffic stop, a document check, a customs inspection, a hospital or a university admission. An official indicates that a problem can be resolved informally, or the person offers money to make a problem go away. In many countries this is an administrative matter or nothing at all. In Russia it is a criminal offence under Article 291, and the amount does not have to be large.

Amounts up to 10,000 roubles fall under Article 291.2, petty bribery, which carries up to a year. Above that, Article 291 applies, and the parts escalate with the sum: a significant bribe from 25,000 roubles, a large one from 150,000, an especially large one from 1,000,000. Giving a bribe for an unlawful act is a separate and heavier part regardless of the amount.

The Note to Article 291 exempts a bribe-giver from criminal liability if they actively assisted in detecting or investigating the offence and either the bribe was extorted from them, or they voluntarily reported it to the authority entitled to institute proceedings.

Two things about this matter enormously. First, "voluntarily" means before the authorities knew — a report made after detention is not voluntary. Second, extortion has a specific legal meaning: a demand accompanied by a threat to harm the person's lawful interests, or the deliberate creation of conditions leaving no lawful alternative. Where a foreign national was pressured into paying, this is very often exactly what happened, and it is the strongest available defence.

Documenting it requires evidence gathered immediately: what was said, by whom, whether anything was recorded, who else was present, what the official document trail shows. This is time-sensitive work.

Many bribery cases arise from an operational experiment run by the anti-corruption service, with marked banknotes and recording equipment. These are lawful when they document an offence that would have happened anyway, and unlawful when they create one.

The Supreme Court's guidance in Plenum Resolution No. 24 of 9 July 2013 is central here, together with the requirements of the Operational and Search Activities Act. Who first raised money, whether the initiative was repeated after refusal, whether the operational documents were drawn up before or after the event, and whether the recording is complete or edited are all matters for the defence to examine — and the operational file, which is not automatically in the case papers, has to be obtained.

The article applies to officials as defined in the Note to Article 285: persons exercising public authority or performing administrative or organisational functions in state bodies, local government, state corporations, the armed forces. A doctor issuing a certificate and a teacher marking an examination can fall within it when performing such a function. Commercial bribery in a purely private company is a different article, 204, with different sentences.

A bribe need not be money. Property, services, discharge of a debt, property rights and other advantages all qualify. This catches people who assumed that because nothing was paid in cash, nothing criminal occurred.