When the concepts «bribery» and «corruption» are used interchangeably it blurs, voluntarily or involuntarily, the borders between these related phenomena. Corruption is a consequence of bribery, but it also has its own distinctive features. The legal definition of corruption, found in the federal law of the Russian Federation, does not include essential qualities of this phenomenon. As a consequence, the Criminal Code norms prescribing liability for bribery still remain the normative basis of liability for corruption. Thus, these two phenomena are counteracted by the same measures of criminological and criminal law prevention, and, as a consequence, such measures lose their relevance and effectiveness, at least against one of the described offences. It is necessary to determine the essential feature of corruption in order to align its public danger with liability measures aimed at fighting it. This essential feature is the self-interested abuse of authority by an official with the purpose of aiding and abetti