A senior Russian police officer has caused a major stir by issuing a scathing denunciation of corruption in the police force and demanding a meeting with Vladimir Putin, media reported Sunday.
In a highly unusual move for a member of the security forces, Alexei Dymovsky accused his superiors in the southern Russian city of Novorissiisk of treating officers "like cattle" and preordaining the results of probes.
"I am tired of being made to uncover crimes that do not exist. I am tired of being told that these are the people who we need go to jail," Dymovsky said in an Internet video which has been reported throughout the Russian media.
Dressed in his police uniform, Dymovsky also asks Russia's powerful prime minister Putin in the video for a meeting "face-to-face" to discuss the problems in the police force. "Vladimir Vladimirovich, you talk about reducing corruption and that corruption should not simply be a crime but also improper. But this is not the case," said Dymovsky. He also issued a litany of complaints about the conditions of work, asking how it was possible to perform such a job with a pay of just 14,000 rubles (500 US dollars) each month.
The authorities have admitted that corruption is a problem in the police force. Moscow's police remain in shock after a police major this year opened fire on customers and staff in a supermarket, killing two.