In May-June, at the initiative of the Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of Entrepreneurs in the Moscow Region, an analytical study was carried out among the business community, the purpose of which was to study the opinion on corruption of small and medium-sized businesses operating in the Moscow Region.

“Four hundred entrepreneurs from 36 municipalities of the Moscow Region formulated their attitude to the current situation in the region according to six conventional blocks: general, the relevance of the issue of corruption, assessment of the level of corruption, assessment of the readiness of the business community to counteract corruption, awareness of anti-corruption measures and assessment of the effectiveness of anti-corruption measures", - said the Ombudsman for the Protection of the Rights of Entrepreneurs in the Moscow Region Vladimir Golovnev.

According to the Business Ombudsman, the cumulative conclusions of this study are as follows: 

1. Most entrepreneurs operating on the territory of the Moscow Region have faced manifestations of corruption in one way or another.

2. According to entrepreneurs, the level of corruption in the Moscow Region can be described as “average”. To be more precise, “medium, rather high.” 

3. Entrepreneurs consider the most corrupt state bodies exercising state control (supervision) and local self-government bodies of municipalities of the Moscow Region.       

The least corrupt are tax bodies and state extra-budgetary funds. 

4. Entrepreneurs are ready to report the facts of corruption and corrupt acts committed against them. Entrepreneurs will prefer to apply to government agencies whose activities are related to combating corruption. 

5. The low level of awareness of entrepreneurs about measures to combat corruption, about anti-corruption legislation, about the real facts of punishment of guilty persons forms and maintains in the business community a negative character to the anti-corruption policy pursued by the state bodies of the Russian Federation. 

“Over the past five years, we have been systematically studying the business climate of the Moscow Region, observing its dynamics and qualitative changes in the business environment. Of course, judicial practice, statistical information on the number of criminal cases initiated,the number of complaints - all these data are important. But we must not forget how much entrepreneurs feel protected, how much they trust the authorities,” Golovnev emphasized. - Based on the survey results obtained, it can be seen that the level of business confidence in government institutions that fight corruption in the Moscow Region is growing. And this, in turn, is the result of the well-coordinated work of the executive and legislative authorities of the region”.

Detailed results of the study are showed in the presentation.