Perestroika Blamed as Soviet Crime Rises 17%
Associated Press
MOSCOW —
The Soviet crime rate rose nearly 17% last year as Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s reform programs unwittingly contributed to a rash of assaults, robberies and theft, Interior Minister Vadim Bakatin said in the newspaper Pravda today.
Attacks on police increased and street crime rose by more than 40%, he said, and police themselves were often corrupt and ill-prepared to fight crime.
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