A great campaigner against alcoholism from the Russian parliament came up with bizarre proposals. He wants to issue fines for donating bottles and for those who want to drink, he is pushing for a mandatory visit to an addiction specialist. Meanwhile, drinkers were not happy with the news that the price of their most popular drink will rise again.
Photo: SITA/AP, Gene J. Puskar
Vodka is traditionally the most popular alcoholic drink in Russia.
MP Andrej Svintsov would like it if Russians gifted themselves only with useful things that do not harm health. He wrote on the Telegram social network that the state must implement tough and uncompromising propaganda against drunkenness. The Law on Alcoholic Beverages proposes to add a provision that prohibits the donation of bottles of alcohol. He considers it necessary also taking into account the fact that, according to him, the consumption of alcohol in Russia has increased significantly over the last four years.
For example, Svincov considers tickets to the cinema or museum, a sports season ticket, and household appliances to be suitable gifts. Whoever would break the law would face a fine. “For citizens, 5,000 rubles, officials from 35,000 to 50,000, and legal entities 100,000,” the Gazeta server informed about the proposal of Svintsov, who is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. Converted to 48 euros, 336 to 480 euros and 961 euros.
Svincov also shed light on those who buy bottles of alcohol for themselves. He focused on them in another draft of the legal norm. “He proposes to amend the law on state regulation and the production and circulation of alcoholic beverages in such a way that it is prohibited to sell to persons who do not have a confirmed record of passing a preventive interview with an addiction specialist,” TASS reported. According to the deputy, the amendment should enter into force on January 1 2026. “The proposal assumes the solution of two problems: to explain in detail to young people all the harmful consequences of drinking alcohol and to provide timely medical help to those who already have problems or they have an addiction to alcohol,” Svincov wrote in the explanatory report. At the same time, he proposes that alcoholic beverages be sold only in specialized stores, where persons under the age of 18 would be prohibited from entering.
In June of this year, he impressed Svincov with another proposal. Brutal. Reminiscent of the Middle Ages. Svintsov suggested corporal punishment for citizens who oppose the interests of the state: “Those who repent should publicly apologize and receive 20 lashes in public on Red Square. We need to bring back corporal punishment.”
It is not known how Svincov imagines the enforceability of the law in the case of gifts with alcoholic beverages. Will a woman go and tell her man that he gave her cognac for International Women’s Day? Or when the head of the company gives an employee vodka for his birthday, will he run to the police? Imaginable only in a film tragicomedy… In Russia, however, a bottle of alcohol is taken for granted as a gift. And when the bottle is missing from the company for its employee, many consider it a sign of incomplete thanks for the work done.
As for the very essence of the fight against alcoholism, is Svintsov justifiably scared? The answer is yes.
In Russia, after 2000, it was possible to achieve successes against excessive drinking. Two decades ago, annual alcohol consumption was more than 20 liters per capita. In 2019, it was even less than 11 liters per person. The decrease in alcohol consumption was undoubtedly also related to the fact that the state increased the tax on ethyl alcohol by up to 50 percent.
However, in recent years, Russia has seen an increasing trend of drinking alcoholic beverages. This applies to wines, beers, cognacs, liqueurs and, of course, vodka, which is traditionally the most popular in the country. From January to October of this year, Russians drank 625 million liters of it, which is significantly more compared to 2017, when it was 542 million liters. What does this have to do with? The prevailing opinion is that drinking in Russia started more since February 2022, when Putin’s army invaded Ukraine. War brings stress to people. They fear for their loved ones at the front. They drink more when they learn that their relative who joined the army has been killed. Alcohol is loved by those who have returned from the front, especially those who have suffered injuries.
By the way, it cannot be ruled out that the increase in the price of alcoholic beverages may have a connection with the financing of the war against Ukraine. From January 1, 2025, their prices will increase again, while not long ago it looked like they would not move upwards. The last time there was a price increase with effect from the first of January this year. For example, the cheapest bottle of vodka (0.5 liters) no longer cost 281 rubles, but after the new 299 rubles. price regulation will not occur until the end of 2026.
The minimum prices of alcoholic beverages have been determined by the state since 2009. The bottom line is that companies should not produce vodka from low-quality raw materials, which would allow them to better establish themselves on the market in competition against honest producers. From the first of January next year, the customer will pay at least 349 rubles for half a liter of vodka (roughly 3.5 euros), the bottle will become more expensive by 50 rubles. The minimum price of cognac will be 651 rubles (6.3 euros), etc.
Worse times may befall non-alcoholic beer producers. The government tasked the relevant ministries to draft a proposal to ban advertising for this drink by mid-April 2025. Among the deputies, for example, Bijsultan Khamzayev from the ruling United Russia party clearly supports this: “I am against any advertising of alcohol, including advertising of so-called non-alcoholic beer.” I will try to prevent alcohol production from being advertised under the non-alcoholic beer brand,” he was quoted as saying by the Gazeta server.
It is interesting that while the unlimited sale of alcoholic beverages works in most EU countries, which also applies to Slovakia, on the contrary, in Russia they have already taken action against the non-stop offer. This applies to many Russian self-governing regions that have used the right to determine the terms of sale based on federal law. In practice, it looks like a customer cannot buy a bottle from 10:00 p.m. to 10:00 a.m. and from 10:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. at 7:00 p.m.
Source: spravy.pravda.sk
