Russia looks set to hike the minimum price of vodka despite widespread concern about growing consumption of moonshine and fake spirits.
Senior Kremlin officials have said they are mulling a rise in the floor price for a half-bottle of vodka to 215 roubles, just under £3.
Their decision comes despite at least one minister mooting a huge drop in the price after the 77 people died late last year after drinking bath lotion.
Russia was the first country in Europe to introduce minimum pricing of the kind proposed by the Scottish Government but currently held by court challenges from the whisky industry.
The country also has the kinds of advertising restrictions proposed by campaigners and academics for Scotland.
Russian consumption of alcohol has dropped substantially in recent years, according to official figures. Government officials, however, have suggested this is mostly because of dramatic demographic change rather than individual policies.
The alcohol poisonings of December 2016 shook Russia. Problem drinkers had bought bath lotions wrongly labelled as containing ethanol, rather than deadly methanol.
After the tragedy Oleg Fomichev, Russia’s deputy minister of economic development, said: “We want vodka not to be too cheap but still accessible to most adults. The alternative is that people will either drink low-quality product or a surrogate with methanol.” He now appears to have been overruled. Studies show Canada’s minimum pricing policy improved health.
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