The Russian public health chief called on Thursday for a complete ban on all alcohol advertising.
"Let's raise our voices and completely ban all advertising of alcoholic beverages, including beer," Gennady Onishchenko said.
The Moscow authorities agreed to limit sales of strong alcohol (over 15% ABV) from 11:00 p.m. to 10:00 a.m. from September 1 as part of a clampdown on alcohol abuse.
There is currently no nationwide alcohol sales legislation in Russia so alcohol is available 24 hours a day in most regions.
Onishchenko lauded the move but said that alcoholism, one of the country's perennial problems, could only be cured through "complex measures," including a ban on alcohol advertising.
"Commercial breaks are so long that you forget what the program you were watching was about, because you are being so aggressively loaded with information about the positive effect that beer has on your health," he said.
The Russian authorities view alcohol abuse as one of the key hindering factors to the country's development and have set the ambitious task of halving alcohol consumption by 2020.
According to official statistics, over 23,000 Russians die as a result of alcohol abuse every year.
MOSCOW, August 19 (RIA Novosti)
