MOSCOW, February 9 - RAPSI. Every sixth crime in the armed forces was corruption-related last year, Chief Military Prosecutor Sergei Fridinsky said at an extended meeting of the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office on Thursday.

A summary of his speech has been posted on the office's website.

According to Fridinsky, the losses caused by such crimes have exceeded 3 billion rubles ($101 million). As many as 144 military units commanders have been convicted for corruption-related offenses. Fraud and forgery accounted for up to one-half of the crimes, while bribery, malfeasance and abuse of power amounted to roughly one-third of the offenses.

In view of this the military prosecutors' priority task remains the same: preservation of the public funds allotted for defense and combating corruption, noted Fridinsky.

The prosecutor emphasized that control over officials' income is an effective way to prevent corruption. Military prosecutors uncovered the illegal activities of almost 1,000 officials last year.