The reduction in hours when shops may sell hard alcohol may lead to a revival of brewing moonshine, Russian Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov said in his blog on Monday.
Last week, Moscow authorities shortened the period of when shops may sell hard alcohol in line with the Kremlin-led campaign to crack down on alcohol abuse.
Currently, Muscovites are not allowed to buy alcohol from 11:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. The new rules extend the period by three hours, making alcohol sales illegal between 10:00 p.m. and 10:00 a.m. and will come into force in September.
"Those who want to drink [alcohol], will have to buy alcohol in after hours clubs at exorbitant prices, and [this will] revive bootleggers and moonshine," Mironov said.
"I think the measures suggested by the Moscow authorities will not turn people from drinking," he continued, adding that better measures would be to ban retailing alcohol in unauthorized places.
Mironov also said that authorities should consider the recreation of occupational therapy rehabilitation centers that existed during the Soviet era.
The document also bans prefectures from issuing permits to sell alcohol round-the-clock in local shops.
Beer, wine and bottled alcoholic "light" cocktails with no more than 15% alcohol content are not affected by the new law. Restaurants and nightclubs are also not affected by the new law and may serve alcoholic beverages 24 hours a day.
The Russian government has declared an anti-alcohol campaign and aims to halve consumption by 2020 and root out illegal production and sales. However, one in four Russians believes no measures taken to fight alcohol abuse will be effective.
In April 2010, the Moscow Region authorities banned alcohol sales from 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 a.m. However, there is no nationwide legislation on the issue in Russia, and in many other regions alcohol is still available 24 hours a day.
Official statistics in Russia show more than 23,000 people die of alcohol poisoning annually. In an effort to fight bootlegging, Russia introduced on January 1 a minimum price for vodka.
Alcohol consumption in Russia per capita is currently about 18 liters a year, twice the critical norm set by the World Health Organization.
MOSCOW, August 23 (RIA Novosti)
