Russia’s Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov has said that the registered number of crimes in the country underestimated the real number by three times. Speaking at a State Duma session on Wednesday, he said that there were not the 2.9 million crimes in the Russian Federation, but something more like 9-12 million. (10-MAR-2005)

According to Mr. Ustinov, the evidence that points to the discrepancy are statistics from France and Germany, which, taken together, had six million registered crimes given the same population as the Russian Federation.

In the Russian Federation, meanwhile, that number was only 2.9 million — not because fewer crimes occur in the Russian Federation, where one of the leading causes of death is murder, but because much fewer crimes are registered.

The significant drop in crime rates points to the fact that crimes are simply not being registered, he said, citing statistics.