Yury Chaika has arrived in Vladivostok, a Pacific port in the Primorye Territory with one of Russia's highest crime rates, for a closed meeting with local law-enforcement officials.
"Grave crimes are becoming rife in the area; 10% are drug-related, and no serious progress has been made in tackling them," Chaika told officials.
The prosecutor general said he needed to know real statistics about how many crimes had been solved and the number of criminals arrested. "So far prosecutors in the Far East have opened one smuggling inquiry, which involves customs officials," Chaika said.
Russia's Far East stretches over a vast territory, and is rich in natural resources but the region has been hit by major economic difficulties due to insufficient investment and labor force, poor management and corruption.
Irina Nomokonova, a senior aide to the Primorye prosecutor, said economic crime was at the focus of the prosecutors' meeting.
The prosecutors agreed that seafood and timber smuggling from Russia to Asia was still on the rise, along with illegal trade in precious metals and diamonds. The law-enforcement officials decided to establish stronger and more effective ties and exchange of information with colleagues in neighboring China, as well as South Korea and Japan, in a bid to improve anti-smuggling efforts.
The discussions also highlighted rampant corruption among local authorities.
At a Kremlin news conference last week, a reporter asked President Vladimir Putin to introduce direct presidential rule in the area whose incumbent governor, Sergei Darkin, has been implicated in corruption. Putin ruled out direct presidential rule in any of the Russian regions.
The president has called for monitoring the use of Primorye's mineral wealth. "The Far East's economy must be well-protected against organized crime and corruption," he said.
Russia has proposed Vladivostok, the administrative center of Primorye, as the venue for the 2012 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
