MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th April, 2023) Moscow does not see any corruption risks in not publishing income and property declarations of officials since they are still being filed and checked as usual, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.
Last December, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree suspending the publication of declarations of Russian officials during Russia's military operation in Ukraine. In February, Putin also signed a law banning the publication of tax declarations of lawmakers of both houses of the Russian parliament with their personal data from March 1, 2023.
"The base for anti-corruption work is preserved, this work continues and it continues consistently. The publication is not the main thing here. The main thing is that this declaration is filed to relevant bodies as well it was done earlier. And it will be checked as scrupulously as it was before. Nothing has changed," Peskov told reporters.
He added that the officials from the president's administration had submitted all necessary declarations, with control departments and other bodies reviewing the documents.
The Kremlin has no information as regards declarations of officials for previous years that have been deleted from the websites of several Russian ministries and other government bodies, according to Peskov.
Last week, media reported that some Russian officials had allegedly deleted information on their income and property. The website of the Russian Transport Ministry no longer shows information about the declarations of its employees for the past 15 years, with the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry displaying no data regarding the income and property of its officials for 2021, according to the report.
