Russian State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament indends to pass legal amendments to the law on corruption, which will ban Russian civil servants from signing contracts with companies run by their relatives.

      The amendments will oblige federal and municipal organizations to prohibit payments to companies whose managers or accountants are close relatives of the managers or accountants of state organizations.

      The amendments define “close relatives” as parents, spouses, children, grandchildren, grandparents, sisters and brothers, as well as the sisters, brothers, parents, grandparents and children of spouses.

      Besides, deputies suggest to ban relatives from working at the same public institution if their their jobs are directly subordinated or involve control of one another. The only exception will be made for public servants working in the countryside.

      According to Viktor Shudegov, one of the amendments' authors, such changes are necessary for avoiding nepotism, which is reported to act in over 80 percent of corruption schemes in Russia.