Russia's newly installed President Dmitri Medvedev has formed a council of experts to fight rising corruption, it was reported Monday.
The Interfax news agency cited the head of the presidential administration, Sergei Naryshkin as saying the working group is set up an action plan within a month, reported dpa.
The corruption has infected the entire system, Medvedev said.
Medvedev made fighting corruption a central platform in his election campaign.
"The main concern is the suppression of the conditions that allow corruption to exist. That is the most difficult task that stands before us," the president said.
In 2007 alone, around 10,500 cases of corruption were investigated, Medvedev said, adding that these were only the tip of the iceberg.
According to Western experts, corruption in Russia rose considerably in the last years of the administration of former president Vladimir Putin. On a worldwide list of least corrupt nations published by Transparency International, Russia fell in 2007 from 121 to 143.