MOSCOW, December 5 - RAPSI. The number of reported crimes has steadily dropped in recent years, Prosecutor General Yury Chaika said in an interview published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta on Wednesday.

He noted that crime rates dropped to 6.7 percent in 2009. "A total of 2.9 million crimes were registered at the time," he said.
In 2010, he added that the number of registered crimes fell 12.1 percent to 2.6 million. "In 2011, the figure dropped once again by 8.5 percent to 2.4 million crimes. Some 1.7 million crimes were registered in the first nine months of 2012, which is 5.6 percent less year-on-year," Chaika said.

"Partly, we manage to detect and register crimes that are concealed for various reasons by the investigative or the preliminary investigative authorities through our prosecutors' efforts," he said. "This is evidenced by the many violations detected by prosecutors during the registration of crimes reports and statements."

The Prosecutor General's Office said in 2011 that prosecutors detected 2.9 million violations during crime report receipts, registrations and reviews.

Some 138,600 criminal offenses unlawfully omitted by the preliminary investigative authorities were found and detected.