Price of Vodka in Russia Doubled! January 2
The Russian New Year and Orthodox Christmas holidays are usually a time for merry-making and drinking. It is a rather lengthy affair, lasting from January 1 until 11, and involves a whole lot of drinking; and drinking usually involves what is perhaps the most favored liquor in that part of the world – vodka. This year, however, keeping up with the old (drinking) traditions will entail more roubles than usual, as the prices for the cheapest vodka were doubled this year.
The move is said to be an attempt at curbing the rate of alcohol consumption in the country. According to statistics, the average Russian can finish as much as 18 liters of pure alcohol every year, which led to the ordering of increased efforts against alcohol abuse by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in August 2009. Duty on beer has tripled since that time.
The cheapest price for a half-liter bottle of vodka will now be 89 roubles. This is just the minimum price, though; Moscow shops carry a wide variety of vodka, with the more expensive luxury brands costing as much as ten times the minimum price. There are cheap vodka brands that are packaged in rather attractive bottles that are in the form of the traditional Russian Matryoshka dolls; these are said to be part of a museum that demonstrates the development of vodka since the 15th century.
This is not the first time that a Soviet leader has tried to manage the Russian drinking habit. Mikhail Gorbachev, one of the more charismatic Soviet leaders, also set forth his own war against alcohol abuse in the mid-80’s by reducing the production of alcohol as well as strictly controlling its public consumption. What this drive resulted in, however, is the emergence of illegal production of low-quality alcoholic drinks.
Tags: alcohol abuse, alcoholism, vodka price, vodka price hike, vodka price increase