An area of land under the ruler or a state
The French wanted the debt that America owed them back. However, since the previous government (the one that lent them the money) was overthrown, the president said that the debt didn't count anymore. Because of this, French sailors kidnapped and attacked American sailors. This lead to an undeclared, cold war called the Quasi Wars.
Answer:
Being a form of dishonesty, political corruption implies that those who are entrusted with power over people, here the Russian czar family over, become influenced by others who seek to satisfy their own gain, here Rasputin. While, it may not necessarily harm the people at all times, political corruption creates a channel of influence over the the political figures, which would most likely to be abused but the third parties.
In particular, Rasputin was accused of taking financial bribes and saxual favors from third party actors in order to exercise his power of the czar family and thus help these actors to get what they were seeking.