For Russians, Corruption Is Just a Way of Life

By MISHA FRIEDMAN, NYT

CORRUPTION in Russia is so pervasive that the whole society accepts the unacceptable as normal, as the only way of survival, as the way things “just are.”

It is not simply about officials abusing power; it’s also about ordinary people comfortably adapting these principles to their daily lives.

Most Russians have grown so accustomed to a certain lawless way of life that they have come to view corruption as “Russia’s own special way.” They are unsure how their country’s economy, government or social sphere might function without it. This photo essay is an attempt to show that corruption is both a state of mind and a way of life.

Thousands of people in Russia’s large cities took to the streets in recent months, unhappy with President Vladimir V. Putin’s system of running the country. Under his leadership, they believe, Russia is steadily becoming a medieval country with corruption trumping all laws. These people have traveled the world, and they feel embarrassed when their peers in London, New York or Berlin ask about the Pussy Riot trial or the imprisonment of Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky. Members of this new class of Russians often hide their nationality just to avoid being compared to their country’s ruling elite or asked questions that they cannot answer.

(More here.)