Has Ukraine scored worse on common measures of corruption than Russia?
Two corruption indexes list Ukraine as slightly less corrupt than Russia, although both countries score below the global average.
Of the 180 countries included in Transparency International's 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index, Ukraine ranks 122 with a score of 32 while Russia ranks 136 with a score of 29. The organization surveys "experts and businesspeople" from each country on issues such as diversion of public funds, nepotistic appointments and state capture by private interests. Each country is then given a score from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). Between 2012 and 2021, Ukraine has scored as low as 26 and as high as 33 while Russia has scored as low as 27 and as high as 30.
The World Bank's Control of Corruption tracker, which gauges "perceptions of the extent to which public power is exercised for private gain," also ranked Ukraine slightly cleaner than Russia in 2020, although the more corrupt country has fluctuated over the years.