August 18, 2010 By Citizen M

Prohibition, Russian-Style

Moscow is getting tough on drinkers: no vodka sales in shops in the capital between 10 pm and 10 am. Affluent drinkers need not fear, though. Spirits will still be avaliable at bars and restaurants. The ban, which will be implemented in September, comes just a few months after the Russian parlaiment passed a new zero tolerance law for drunk drivers. The Telegraph reports:

It comes as the Kremlin pushes ahead with the harshest anti-alcohol campaign since former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev’s draconian ban on vodka sales in 1985. Mr Gorbachev, who became a hate figure for many ordinary Russians as a result of the ban, decreed that vodka could only be sold from two in the afternoon to seven at night. His campaign prompted desperate drunks to rush to get their fix by imbibing perfume and other hazardous intoxicants instead. Many of them died as a result.