Allegations of Corruption
United Russia has come in for criticism that it is "the party of crooks and thieves" ("партия жуликов и воров", a term coined by activist Alexey Navalny), due to the continuing prevalence of corruption in Russia. In October 2011, Novaya Gazeta even published an article describing how members of the public were writing the slogan on banknotes in protest. In December 2011, Vladimir Putin rejected the accusation of corruption, saying that it was a general problem that was not restricted to one particular party: "They say that the ruling party is associated with theft, with corruption, but it’s a cliché related not to a certain political force, it’s a cliché related to power What’s important, however, is how the ruling government is fighting these negative things".
A poll made in November 2011 found that more than one-third of Russians agreed with the characterization of United Russia as "the party of crooks and thieves."
After the 2011 legislative elections a few leaders within United Russia called for investigations of fraud and reform of the party.
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Famous quotes containing the word corruption:
“Keep your hands clean and pure from the infamous vice of corruption, a vice so infamous that it degrades even the other vices that may accompany it. Accept no present whatever; let your character in that respect be transparent and without the least speck, for as avarice is the vilest and dirtiest vice in private, corruption is so in public life.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)