The electorate supported the initiative of the president to prohibit high-ranking officials from having foreign bank accounts and bonds.
MOSCOW, February 26, 2013. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data concerning how Russians assess the bill banning the persons making decisions on Russian national security from holding foreign accounts and securities; how Russians assess this bill in general.
Most of Russians are aware of the presidential initiative to prohibit Russian officials dealing with national security issues from holding foreign bank accounts and bonds (69%). Most of them (52%) are informed in general, and 17% are well informed. Those who are most informed are Russians of pre-retirement and retirement age (21-22%), residents of big cities (22%), those who do not use the Internet (20%), and LDPR adherents (25%). Almost one-third of respondents do not know anything about this law (29%); they are basically young Russians (46%), rural area residents (34%) and absentees (33%).
Many Russians assess the measures proposed by the bill as sufficient (59-76%). There was a wide discussion on the exclusion of foreign property from the list of prohibited assets (27% believe it is important to prohibit holding foreign property) and on the mitigation of punishment to dismissal (23% would like to toughen this measure). Besides, every fifth Russian think it is necessary to toughen the measure concerning the period of three month to get rid of foreign assets (19%).
Eight in every ten Russians (80%) positively assess the bill. However, Russians are divided in their opinion on the effectiveness of the bill: 40% believe the bill will be an effective anti-corruption measure; the same share of Russians thinks that officials will find a way to evade this law. Those who positively assess the bill are supporters of United Russia party (49%), Russians with high level of income (48%) and those who are poorly aware or generally aware about this law (41-42%). The share of Russians negatively assessing the bill is 14%; they believe that the president is not actually going to combat corruption; submitting this law is a populist measure. They are basically absentees (24%), LDPR (24%) and CPRF (23%) supporters, Russians with low level of income (20%) and those who are well informed about this bill (18%).
Most of respondents support the idea to toughen the bill banning foreign accounts and bonds. They would like to punish violators: 83% are in favor of heavy fines and criminal liability. Three-quarters of respondents would like to include foreign property in the list of assets and apply the law to children and other close relatives (76 and 75%, respectively). Least of Russians approve of the proposal that allows having foreign bank accounts to pay for education or medical treatment (51%). Russians are also against the proposal of German Gref allowing officials having bank accounts in foreign branches of Russian banks (55% oppose this initiative).
The initiative Russian opinion polls were conducted on February 15-16, 2013. 1600 respondents were interviewed at 138 sampling points in 46 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.
Vladimir Putin submitted the bill to the State Duma to prohibit Russian state officials, making decisions on national security, as well as their spouses and underage children, from holding foreign bank accounts and bonds. The ban applies to high-ranking officials, federal judges, state-run corporations et cet. Those who breaks this law will lose their jobs. Do you know/have you heard/do you hear for the first time about this bill? (close-ended question, one answer) | ||||||
Total respondents | aged 18–24 | aged 25–34 | aged 35–44 | aged 45–59 | aged 60 and over | |
I am well informed about that | 17 | 8 | 15 | 15 | 21 | 22 |
I heard something but I do not know any details | 52 | 44 | 51 | 58 | 53 | 50 |
I hear for the first time about that | 29 | 46 | 31 | 23 | 23 | 26 |
Hard to tell | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
Currently the bill proposes the following measures. Can you assess which measures are normal and which ones are harsh and need to be changed? (close-ended question, one answer) | |||||||
To extend the list of those under this ban and include high-ranking regional officials such as governors` deputies, ministries of regional governments and deputies of local general courts et cet. | To check up information on foreign bank accounts and bonds that comes not only from Public Chamber of Russia but also from the direction of political parties, mass media | To extend the list of those under the ban including not only high-ranking officials and their families` members, but also top managers of state-run companies and their close relatives | To ban all persons who hold positions dealing with national security, their spouses and underage children from holding any foreign accounts and bonds (stocks et cet.) | those who hold high-ranking posts or who have just been hired should be provided with a three-month period to get rid of foreign accounts and bonds | To dismiss those who violated the law banning from having foreign bank accounts and bonds | To allow persons making national security decisions and members of their families to have foreign property provided that they show that they have successfully passed the legal check | |
Too heavy measure; it should be soften | 6 | 6 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
Normal measure; it does not need to be changed , | 76 | 74 | 71 | 71 | 67 | 64 | 59 |
Too light measure; it should be toughened | 13 | 13 | 13 | 15 | 19 | 23 | 27 |
Hard to tell | 5 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 7 |
How do you assess this bill in general? (close-ended question, one answer) | ||||||||
Total respon dents | Suppor ters of United Russia party | Supporters of non-parliament parties | Suppor ters of LDPR | Suppor ters of CPRF | Suppor ters of A Just Russia party | I would not take part in elections | Hard to tell | |
Good anti-corruption measure; it will have positive effects | 40 | 49 | 40 | 32 | 31 | 23 | 30 | 34 |
Good beginning but many Russian officials will find ways to evade it | 40 | 38 | 42 | 41 | 37 | 50 | 42 | 42 |
Populist measure, political move; actually Putin understands that the law will not have any positive effects | 14 | 7 | 14 | 24 | 23 | 20 | 24 | 15 |
Hard to tell | 6 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 9 |
A number of proposals are being currently discussed to complete the law. In your opinion, which of them should be applied to make the law more effective; which ones should be abandoned? (close-ended question, one answer) | ||||||
To impose severe penalties or to introduce criminal liability for violating the law banning foreign accounts and bonds | To pay penalty (single tax) using money obtained from selling securities and withdrawn from the bank account when closing it, if these assets were not previously been indicated in the declaration | To include foreign property in the list of the banned foreign assets | To apply the bill to adult children (over 18 years old) and other relatives of high-ranking officials, judges, top managers (parents, sisters, brothers et cet.) | To allow officials opening bank accounts to pay for education or medical treatment during the period of training\treatment | To allow persons making decisions on national security, their spouses and underage children to have bank accounts in foreign branches of Russian banks | |
It should be applied | 83 | 78 | 76 | 75 | 51 | 36 |
It should not be applied | 10 | 11 | 16 | 18 | 38 | 55 |
Hard to tell | 7 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 11 | 9 |
Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM, the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!