MOSCOW, January 29 - RAPSI. Russia has been classed at high-risk of corruption in its defense sector by UK Transparency International in its new Government Defense Anti-Corruption Index released on January 29.

This in-depth analysis of defense corruption risks is based on information collected over the past two years and covers 82 countries around the world which accounted for 94% of the global military expenditure in 2011, or around $1.6 trillion. The authors calculated the global cost of corruption in the sector to be over $20 billion every year.

Countries are scored in bands from very low risk (A) to critical risk (F). Germany and Australia are the only countries that have strong anti-corruption mechanisms according to the index. Corruption risks in Russia are assessed as high, alongside Belarus, Israel, China, Ukraine and several other countries.

In October 2012, Transparency International published a report which put the leading Russian defense companies and arms exporters among the least transparent defense companies in the world. In answer to this, representatives of the Russian companies mentioned in the report told RIA Novosti that Transparency Internationals "black list" is an example of unfair business practices and an attempt to undermine trust in Russian companies on the global arms market.