Russia limits arrest as jails fill

Russian prisons are almost full to capacity

MOSCOW, Russia -- Russian prosecutors are taking the drastic action of limiting the number of arrest warrants they issue to prevent further overcrowding of the country's dilapidated jails.

"Bearing in mind the strained situation in the Russian penitentiary system we have been trying to avoid arrests," Prosecutor Gen. Vladimir Ustinov told ITAR-Tass news agency.

Ustinov met on Saturday -- Prosecutor's Day in Russia -- with President Vladimir Putin, who praised the special role that prosecutors have played in Russia's history going back to the time of the czars.

Putin said in the modern day Russia that the role of prosecutors in helping the effective operation of government institutions is becoming more evident, Russian news reports said.

That role has been prevalent over the past week, as prosecutors have announced several high-profile corruption investigations.

In what is seen as a Kremlin-pushed drive, Ustinov's office launched a probe into a subsidiary of the Gazprom natural gas monopoly.

Prosecutors also announced they were looking into past business activities of the Kremlin chief of staff, a Yeltsin appointee.

For all of 2001, prosecutors issued 392,500 arrest warrants in the 3.38 million criminal cases they handled, along with more than 3,000 bribery cases, Ustinov told ITAR-Tass.

About 310,000 unlawfully initiated criminal cases were also thrown out, he said.