Strategic corruption and its role in the Russian aggression against Ukraine

Abstract

This article analyses the phenomenon of strategic corruption primarily in the context of the implementation of the Russian Federation's foreign policy towards Ukraine and the Western states. Strategic corruption is one of the most intensively used forms of hostile influence by authoritarian regimes against democracies. Modern strategic corruption differs in scale, modus operandi and impact from both traditional ‘bureaucratic’ corruption and corrupt practices used in international relations in previous decades. Strategic corruption is used as a tool to influence the decision-making process and policies of hostile states, as an instrument of influence within the toolbox of war against Ukraine. In the modern context, strategic corruption is an instrument used by revisionist powers to change the international order through criminalisation. Instruments designed to combat ‘bureaucratic’ corruption are of limited use in the case of strategic corruption. The authors argue that this phenomenon should be addressed in the context of international politics, international and national security, taking into account, inter alia, its role as an instrument of warfare and hostile foreign policy.