Corruption in the local government system of the Russian state (according to investigative cases of the 1590-1630s)

Introduction. The purpose of the article is to study how corruption was understood in the Moscow state and how the fight against it was carried out in the system of local government to show the vector of institutional shift in the Russian state of the late 16th - first third of the 17th century. Methods and materials. The subject of the analysis is three investigative cases of corruption revealed during the 1590-1630s in three regions of Russia: Veliky Novgorod, Pskov, and Sviyazhsk. The investigation of cases was carried out using searches, which consist of questions from detectives and consolidated answers from people being interviewed, sealed with their assault. Analysis. During the study, a reconstruction of the corruption networks created by the clerk and governors was carried out, the methods and forms of obtaining illegal profits were studied, and an assessment was made of its volume and the scale of corruption in the Russian state. Administrators integrated into corrupt networks were punished with confiscation of their movable property and money savings and deprivation of office; sometimes the abuses they committed were not considered grounds for holding them liable.