The authors argue that in the short-term the best results in fighting corruption in Russia one could obtain affecting incentives of the politicians and making this fight beneficial for them. The level of corruption in a state is a function of various variables, however under the same long-term structural, socio-economic and cultural factors different equilibria may appear. Thus, the norm corresponding to mutual expectations of the actors could be either “high-corruption” or “low-corruption” strategies. The main theoretical and practical question for Russia is how to turn from “bad” high-corruption equilibrium to “good” low-corruption one.