The Russian Criminal Market of Corruption Services: Modern Characteristics and Counteraction

The article analyzes the dynamics of the current state and the structure of the Russian criminal market of corruption services on the example of that part of it, which is represented by the most common registered corruption crimes committed in the period 2019–2023, which constitute the core of the corruption services market. The analysis showed that in the overall structure of crime, these crimes occupy a very small share, while their absolute number continues to grow gradually. More than half of all corruption crimes are traditionally bribery, among which petty bribery dominates, while the number of bribes during the study period increased by 1.5 times, while the number of identified criminals actually remained at the same level. Various spheres of public life are indicated, where corruption services are most in demand. The services of representatives of the law enforcement sphere are especially highlighted. Separately, the dynamics of the volume of established damage from corruption crimes and the level of its compensation was analyzed. At the same time, a threefold increase in the latter was noted, including thanks to a new method of using civil lawsuits to recover income from an unidentified source of origin, which over the past two years have made it possible to return billions of rubles to the state without the use of criminal repression. Meanwhile, despite the emergence of new opportunities for more effective counteraction to the Russian market of corrupt services, it is developing well, adapting to new conditions, using global digitalization and the possibilities of cryptocurrencies to evade social control and to improve methods of payment for services rendered.