Murmansk Oblast Governor Dmitry Dmitriyenko has signed a document enjoining retail sale of alcohol even more. Licensed shops can now only sell alcoholic beverages stronger than 15 percent ten hours per day, from 11 in the morning to nine in the evening, a press release on the regional government’s web site reads.
This regulation does not concern restaurants and bars.
According to data from the Murmansk Statistics service 6.7 million liters of vodka and other liquors and 19 million liters of beer were sold in the region in course of the first half of 2010, Regnum reports.
Although the numbers might seem high, the amount of liquor sold in Murmansk so far this year is actually 5.5 percent less than in the same period in 2009. This might be a sign that earlier measures to fight alcoholism have had some impact. In October 2009, Murmansk imposed a ban on sale of strong liquors between 11pm and 8am, and on January 1st 2010 Russian authorities introduced restrictions on minimum prices of vodka. Over the next three years the government is considering doubling the minimum price of vodka.
Alcoholism remains a serious problem in Russia. 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.
