The size of the average bribe in Russia more than tripled in 2011, the Interior Ministry's economic security department reported.

“The size of the average bribe and commercial payoff in reported crimes increased more than 250 percent to 236,000 rubles ($7866),” it said in a statement.

The department said there had been some success in the fight against corruption, notably a 50 percent increase in funds recovered in corruption cases involving government contracts awarded for health care, utilities, construction and education. “This amounts to about 4.5 billion rubles returned to the state budget, organizations and citizens,” it said.

Russia also improved its position on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index in 2011, although it still ranks near the bottom of the list. Russia scored 2.4 points on the scale in 2011, putting it in 143rd place out of 182 countries, on a par with Azerbaijan, Comoros Islands, Belarus, Mauritania, East Timor and Togo. In 2010, Russia was in 154th place with a score of 2.1.