Russia ranks among the world’s most corrupt countries in international ratings, with corruption-related crimes having cost an estimated $2.5 billion in losses between 2014 and 2017. A recent study suggested that Russians have become more tolerant of corrupt practices in the years since the fall of the Soviet Union.

An official at Russia's Rostransnadzor federal transportation watchdog was fired earlier this year after his wife purchased 66 cars for personal use, the country’s top prosecutor has said.

In the first nine months of this year, 908 public officials have been fired in Russia over violations related to corruption, Russia’s Prosecutor General Yury Chaika told the Kommersant business daily in an interview published on Wednesday.

Chaika cited a recent example in which an official working for Rostransnadzor had been fired after an inquiry into his family’s finances.

“He was fired after a prosecutor’s check revealed that his spouse had purchased 66 cars, while his family income showed he could not afford such transactions,” Chaika said.

The prosecutor general added that more than 1,200 officials were fired over corruption in 2017.

