Russian president Dmitry Medvedev earned 4.1 million rubles ($175,000) last year, about 13% less than Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the two leaders disclosed today in their income statements for 2008.
Medvedev's statement, posted on the Kremlin website, also revealed he has 2.8 million rubles ($119,000) in bank accounts and shares a 368-square-meter apartment with his wife.
The only family car is his wife's 10-year-old Volkswagen Golf, according to the statement, published as part of Medvedev campaign to root out Russia's endemic corruption.
The president promised last month he would publicly declare his wealth - even though he doesn't have to - and urged other officials to follow suit. So far, few top officials have done so, but Putin swiftly followed Medvedev on Monday.
The prime minister's income statement said he made 4.7 million rubles ($198,000) last year and owns an 77-square-meter apartment and a 1500-square-metre plot of land.
Putin, whose report also said he owned two vintage Russian cars, last week promised to buy a car from the struggling automaker Avtovaz, which has received a $US75 million ($105 million) government bailout package.
While Medvedev's reported wealth is modest compared to that of Russia's top millionaires, he has the run of a government-owned estate called Meiendorf Castle - which looks like a real castle, if a bit smaller - and is chauffeured to work at the Kremlin in a Mercedes-Benz bigger than many luxury four-wheel drives.
A former corporate lawyer and law professor, Medvedev has repeatedly called for stronger rule of law in Russia and pledged to combat rampant corruption. But there have been few signs of progress since he took over the presidency last May from Putin, who became prime minister.
Anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International has ranked Russia near Bangladesh, Kenya and Syria on its global corruption index. A Russian prosecutor said last summer that state officials' income from corruption was equivalent to about one-third of the country's budget.
While legislation now requires many officials to report financial information to authorities, they are rarely required to reveal it publicly, according to Georgy Satarov, head of Indem, a Moscow think tank that studies corruption.
AP
