* Anti-graft group says jobs can be bought freely
* Growing ties between law and crime, report says
MOSCOW, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Police officers and prosecutors top the black market list of jobs that can be bought freely in Russia where crime and law enforcement have become increasingly entangled, a human rights group has said in a report.
President Dmitry Medvedev, half-way through his four-year term, has made eradicating corruption, building a law-abiding society and reforming the police force his top priorities.
In a annual survey published late on Tuesday, anti-graft campaigners Clean Hands said there was a trend among politicians to blame corruption on Russia's cultural traditions.
"Such an interpretation is pretty widespread but it is nothing else than a means of manipulating public opinion in a bid to justify the growth of corruption in Russia," the group said in a 46-page report posted on its site www.rusadvocat.com.
The General Prosecutor's Investigative Department and the FSB state security service both declined immediate comment on the report.
Clean Hands, an independent human rights group monitoring corruption cases, said that increasingly strong ties between criminals and law enforcement officials have become a striking feature of Russia's modern society.
It made the conclusion after analysing 6,589 complaints from ordinary people received between July 2, 2009 and July 30, 2010.
Russia is ranked 146th out of 180 nations in Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index.
U.S. anti-bribery group TRACE International said this year that extortion by corrupt officials has become so widespread that some Western companies considered pulling out altogether.
Citing data of the Interior Ministry's economic security department, Clean Hands said a standard bribe in Russia averaged about 44,000 roubles ($1,450) in mid-2010, almost double the average of 23,000 roubles at the start of the year.
In its report, Clean Hands said those willing to secure jobs in the prosecutor's office or in the police often had to pay.
Citing information provided by ordinary citizens and workers of security organisations, the group said the job of an aide to a district prosecutor could cost $10,000.
The job of a traffic police officer is the most popular position carrying a $50,000 price tag, it said. Policemen are despised by many drivers in Russia for their inclination to take bribes, often disguised as official "fines", for many offenses.
Some top officers of the FSB security service, successor to the Soviet-era KGB, are involved in protecting entrepreneurs or seizing businesses in the interest of others, the report said.
(Reporting by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Maria Golovnina)
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