In Mr. Makushin’s opinion, it is necessary to “effectively review all laws” in order to root out corruption. He said all of Russia’s key laws were ineffective in this respect.

“That is why corruption has become a business, and people make money at it,” Mr. Makushin stressed. In his opinion, a system should be created whereby “it would be uninteresting and not beneficial for businesses to offer bribes”.

Businesses vary greatly, and when large businesses push through some laws, it is unclear whether they will be beneficial to smaller businesses and the state as a whole, he says. According to Mr. Makushin, businesses pay about 7-8 percent of their product sales in bribes. For this reason Western companies didn’t want to work in Russia, he noted.

Earlier this week, Boris Gryzlov, Chairman of the State Duma, said a department would be set up in the Duma to examine bills in terms of corruption. The approval of the department will be required for all bills. “This will ensure that this or that bill is not used for the purposes of corruption,” he said. According to Oleg Morozov, Deputy Chairman of the United Russia faction, this measure will also help stop lobbying.