Navalny Gathers 100,000 Signatures for Anti-corruption Initiative
Lesson Brief
Vedomosti
Russian politician and Kremlin whistle-blower Alexei Navalny has completed his project to gather 100,000 signatures of Russian citizens urging Russia's government to ratify Article 20 of the UN Convention Against Corruption, which Russian officials failed to do in 2006 when signing on to other parts of the convention. Article 20 stipulates that it will be illegal in a country for a public official to have a significant increase in assets for which this individual cannot account for. While Navalny's team has submitted the petition, many political experts and commentators suggest that the petition will not be regarded seriously by the Russian government. Russian officials, meanwhile, claim that Russia has ratified the convention fully. However, the official statement of Russia on official UN documentation concerning the convention would show otherwise.