In a victory for the fight against corruption, the Constitutional Court has ruled that state employees (including police and tax inspectors) cannot be punished for engaging in whistleblowing activities, provided such activities concern ‘public interests‘.  Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has publicly criticized the membership drive of his All-Russia People’s Front, slamming the ‘artificial increase of large-scale participation‘, after several people complained that their unions had joined the front without consulting their members.  Ideally, Putin suggested, members of the front should be allowed to nominate candidates for political positions.  He also said that he would need a good wash after the inevitably unhygienic 2012 presidential election campaign (‘Putin’s remarks appeared aimed to portray the December State Duma elections and the presidential vote as hard-fought contests‘).