Sales of all alcoholic beverages, including beer, should be prohibited in Russia between 9:00 p.m. and until morning, Russia's chief sanitary doctor said.

"We must prohibit sales of alcoholic beverages in the night time. This is a normal and civilized norm," Gennady Onishchenko said adding that the beverages must include beer as well.

Beers with alcohol content ranging from 0.5% to 8.6% account for 98% of the Russian market. Brands with alcohol content exceeding 8.6% make up less than 1%, and alcohol-free beers account for some 1.5%.

Russia has tripled excise duties on beer as part of the campaign to fight alcohol abuse.

However, for example, in Moscow hard alcoholic beverages are unavailable in most stores from 11 p.m. until 8 a.m. In Chechnya's capital of Grozny, a mostly Muslim republic in the North Caucasus, alcoholic beverages are not sold in stores after 8 p.m.

MOSCOW, March 14 (RIA Novosti)