Ethics Newsline®

MOSCOW
Russia’s high-profile anti-corruption czar was abruptly fired last week, leading to widespread speculation that he either had not been doing enough to fight corruption or perhaps had been doing enough but talking about it too much.

Vladimir Ustinov, who led various anti-corruption prosecutions — including what was thought to be a politically motivated case against the former head of Yukos oil — was abruptly voted out of office by the upper house of Russia’s parliament at the request of president Vladimir Putin, the Independent reported.

The Russian newspaper Pravda reported that Ustinov was asked to resign for health reasons. Pravda also noted that health reasons are frequently used to justify dismissals in Russia.

Ustinov’s dismissal has sent Kremlin watchers scrambling for theories, according to the New York Times. Some speculate that Ustinov had been slacking off on the job, while others say he may have stepped on the toes of the politically connected.

Another possible explanation, according to a sociologist interviewed by the Times, is that Ustinov’s public pronouncements about the extent of corruption in Russia angered President Putin, who is attempting to downplay the perception that Russia is a nation riddled by crime and corruption.