Russia's western region of Kursk has topped a new list of the most corrupt regions in the country, a report by the Prosecutor General’s Office revealed Wednesday.
The corruption index, published in the Izvestia newspaper, was compiled using crime data for bribery-related offenses in the first six months of 2016.
The Kursk region, which shares a border with Ukraine, reported 257 corruption-related offenses, a 189 percent increase on the same period in 2015.
The central Republic of Udmurtia came in second place with recorded 79 corruption-related crimes, followed by the Astrakhan region with 74 offenses.
The report, which registered a 2 percent nationwide rise in corruption overall, also named Kamchatka in Russia’s Far East, the northern Arkhangelsk region and the Smolensk region as the country's least corrupt.
Oleg Matveichev, professor at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics, told Izvestia that the report was limited as it only used crime figures.
“It’s important to carry out surveys on local populations," he said. "It’s ordinary people who face corruption.
“Experts and further analysis should be employed alongside statistics. Once you have the most varied data possible, then you can compile more accurate ratings for individual regions.” Matveichev said.
The Kursk regional government declined to comment on the report’s findings, Izvestia reported.
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