According to the new federal regulations, the cheapest bottle of vodka on sale will be 89 rubles (app 2 EUR) for a half-litre bottle. While that still might sound cheap, the new law is part of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s plan to tackle alcoholism in Russia, BBC reports.
Alcoholism is a serious problem in Russia. On average every Russian consumes about 18 litres of pure alcohol a year. Statistics show that the Russian population shrinks with 800.000 every year because of alcohol abuse. Only In Murmansk Oblast, three persons die from alcohol every second day, BarentsObserver reported.
The last time anyone tried to combat Russian’s vodka consumption was 24 years ago, when Russia was part of the Soviet Union. Then, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev drastically cut vodka production and did not allow it to be sold before 2pm. Officially, lives were saved and alcoholism dropped, but Soviet state revenues took a massive hit and so did Mr Gorbachev’s popularity. President Medvedev cannot allow either of those things to happen to him.
What Mr Medvedev does know, though, is that if he can reduce alcoholism in Russia, he is likely to improve health and life-expectancy, and therefore raise Russia’s GDP.
From January 1 Arkhangelsk Oblast introduced a ban on retail sale of alcoholic beverages stronger than 15 percent between 23pm and 8am, web site Dvina Inform reports. Murmansk Oblast introduced similar regulations in October 2009. This regulation does not concern restaurants and bars.
