Given all that’s been said about Russia’s suddenly rediscovered passion for fighting corruption, there’s at least one section of the ruling elites who mean what they say or who are either setting themselves up for a public disappointment of comical proportions.

What started with the firing of Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, seen as the highest level cabinet firing in the past decade, escalated into a full blown anti-corruption theme as further investigations rapidly opened and spread, and the president began talking more forcefully and publicly about the importance of fighting corruption. Understandably, not many people are taking him seriously, especially as the true reason for Serdyukov’s firing is not believed to be related to corruption at the Ministry (which has been happening for years), but rather a Petraeus-like moment of infidelity to his wife’s powerful family which got him the job in the first place.  And, of course, he made himself many enemies in the military industrial complex who had gotten used to over-sized contracts.

But the leadership is not giving up. A couple of days ago, President Vladimir Putin promised, once again, that you need not adjust your TV sets, that his anti-graft campaign is real, and that officials would be punished and jailed. Then on Wednesday during this state-of-the-nation addres, Putin again raised the prospect of passing legislation that would require officials to list all their foreign assets. He means business! Or does he?

Personally, I think it says quite a lot about the quality of the investigative bodies that television documentaries are the first ones to break open an investigation, followed by action from police and prosecutors.  And then of course, there’s just such a long track record of insincerity.  Keep in mind that Medvedev also required officials to declare their incomes and worth, and Putin made a practical joke out of the law by reporting about $150,000 income a year (as Boris Nemtsov has written, he wears many luxury watches worth more than that).  In Russia, “anti-corruption” is just the latest euphemism for the clan wars, it seems.

No matter how absurd we might think it is to even talk about a serious anti-corruption campaign by a Russian administration that exists through corruption, it is the de facto question the media shall be debating in 2013, just like we used to be distracted with the whole is-Medvedev-independent-of-Putin-or-not debate.  You gotta feed the pundits something.

Anyways, one thoughtful entry here comes from Tatyana Stanovaya, published on Polit.ru, who explains why it might be useful for the authorities to create an anti-corruption mindset in the public sphere, but with only selective arrests removing targeted individuals.  Below is a translation.