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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MOSCOW 001434 
 
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BERLIN ALSO FOR LABOR COUNSELOR HAGEN 
 
E.O.  12958: N/A 
TAGS: TBIO EAGR ETRD SOCI RS
SUBJECT: RUSSIA: THE HARSH IMPACT OF DEMON VODKA 
 
REFS: A. 06 Moscow 9824 
      ¶B. 06 Moscow 12348 
  ¶C. Moscow 563 
 
MOSCOW 00001434  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
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¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Leading European and Russian addiction and 
demographics experts met recently in Moscow to discuss alcohol 
consumption and policy in Russia.  Binge drinking causes an 
estimated three percent drag on GDP and leads to about half a 
million premature deaths every year.  The lack of a national center 
to study alcohol addiction hinders the collection of solid data that 
could guide politicians, who battle corruption within law 
enforcement circles and hard lobbying by domestic alcohol producers. 
 The brief presence of two senior Kremlin policy-makers at the 
conference suggests that the Russian Government recognizes that 
widespread alcohol abuse is fueling the overall demographic crisis 
by contributing to Russia's low life expectancy and high preventable 
mortality among working-age men.  Despite the attention to the 
issue, however, we do not expect any major policy initiatives in the 
near term, given upcoming Duma and Presidential elections, and the 
lingering bitter memories from Gorbachev's attempts to regulate 
alcohol consumption in the mid-80s.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (U) Leading addiction and demographics experts from Russia and 
Europe held a two-day conference in Moscow March 1-2 to discuss 
Russian drinking habits and ways of crafting an effective alcohol 
policy.  The conference, entitled "Developing an Effective Alcohol 
Policy for Russia: Worldwide Experience and the Russian Realities," 
attracted leading Russian and international demographics and 
addiction experts from Great Britain, and from Norway, Sweden, and 
Finland (cold, northern countries with a historical legacy of heavy 
hard alcohol consumption similar to Russia's). 
 
Hard Drinking, Hard Life 
------------------------ 
 
¶3. (U) Nikolay Gerasimenko, Deputy Head of the Duma Health 
Committee, cited several grim estimates of alcohol consumption in 
Russia, though he cautioned that data collection was poor in this 
area.  Annual per capita alcohol consumption in Russia is estimated 
at 14-15 liters per year (equal to 180 bottles of vodka for every 
adult Russian male).  Hard alcohol constitutes 60-75 percent of all 
consumed alcohol, one of the highest percentages in the world. 
(Note: According to the WHO, Russia ranks 19th worldwide in per 
capita consumption of alcohol, but almost all of the countries 
ranked higher than Russia are predominantly beer or wine-drinking. 
Russia is ranked third worldwide in per capita consumption of 
spirits after Moldova and Reunion. END NOTE)  More than two million 
people are officially registered as alcoholics, and some 80 percent 
of young people aged 11-24 drink regularly.  Alcohol has also become 
steadily more affordable in the past 15 years.  A bottle of vodka 
now costs around three dollars and is roughly equal to the price of 
three bottles of beer.  The estimated economic loss from heavy 
alcohol consumption is 500-700 billion rubles per year, or three 
percent of GDP.  The situation is most critical in small towns, 
where poor economic conditions and high unemployment drive many men 
to drink. 
 
Alcohol-Related Deaths Drive the Demographic Crisis 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶4. (U) Vladimir Shkolnikov, a well-known Russian demographer now 
working at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in 
Rostok, Germany, and Aleksandr Nemtsov, the pioneer of Russian 
alcohol epidemiology research from the Moscow Institute of 
Psychiatry, presented data showing the major contribution of alcohol 
to overall mortality.  Nemtsov attributes 22 percent of male 
mortality and 15 percent of female mortality to alcohol consumption. 
 According to Nemtsov's estimates, 365,000 men and 128,000 women, 
almost 500,000 total, died every year from the consequences of 
alcohol consumption in the years 1990 to 2001.  Shkolnikov 
attributes 82,000 deaths a year to the direct effects of alcohol 
consumption, including violent deaths, suicides, traffic accidents, 
and traumas.  These deaths are supplemented by deaths from 
cardiovascular diseases, cirrhosis of the liver, and 
gastro-intestinal diseases, in all of which alcohol is a 
 
MOSCOW 00001434  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
contributing factor. 
 
Alcohol Consumption Needs Better Study 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) Many participants emphasized the need to collect solid data 
to characterize Russia's alcohol problem.  The renowned Russian 
demographer, Anatoliy Vishnevskiy, Director of the newly established 
Institute of Demography at the Higher School of Economics, lamented 
that there is no national research center on alcoholism and alcohol 
abuse.  Such a center could collect basic data and more sharply 
define the level of drinking and the resulting health-related 
consequences and economic losses, to better guide policy-makers. 
 
Battling Illegal Sales and Alcohol Surrogates 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) Duma Deputy Yevgeniy Roizman, well-known for his anti-drug 
campaign in Yekaterinburg, spoke about his experiences fighting 
illegal alcohol sales.  He claimed that Yekaterinburg was losing 
2,000 people annually due to acute alcohol poisonings.  He noted 
that several local investigations revealed that the local police 
were either involved in unregulated sales, or offered protection to 
sellers of illegal product.  Roizman also complained of the 
resistance he has faced in introducing legislation to criminalize 
sales of spirits to minors, noting that many legislators have 
commercial interests in vodka ventures or alcohol production plants. 
 
 
¶7. (U) Roizman also noted that inexpensive medicines containing 
alcohol constitute a significant portion of the alcohol consumed by 
Russia's poor.  A well-known, non-prescription Russian concoction 
for heart problems ("nastoika boyaryshnika") is produced in 
quantities that far exceed any reasonable medical demand.  This 
product is also sold in 50-100 milliliter bottles, apparently to 
market it to drinkers.  Likewise, Russia has 15 plants producing 
alcohol for technical and industrial uses, though most experts 
believe one plant would be sufficient to satisfy domestic demand. 
These alcohol surrogates, as well as other solvents and cleaning 
solutions, led to a spate of widely publicized alcohol poisonings in 
2006 (Refs B, C). 
 
Finding a Way to Shift Consumers to Beer 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (U) Many speakers noted Russia could reduce hard alcohol 
consumption either through heavy taxation of spirits or severely 
restricting points of sale.  Poland (historically, a vodka-drinking 
country) in 1996 increased prices for spirits by introducing a heavy 
tax, which led to a massive shift to beer drinking.  By 2001, male 
life expectancy increased by four years, and consumption of hard 
alcohol dropped from 65 percent to 20 percent of overall alcohol 
consumption.  Finland and Sweden introduced beer sales in 
supermarkets, but severely restricted the retail outlets for hard 
alcohol, which also led to a reduction in spirits consumption.  Some 
experts also argued that reintroducing the Soviet-era state monopoly 
on alcohol production would reduce consumption, though others 
disagreed and felt a state monopoly would not influence drinking 
habits. 
 
Alcohol Deaths Still Serious But Declining 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶9. (U) There were 138,000 fewer deaths in Russia in 2006 compared to 
2005, and deaths from alcohol poisoning dropped by 20 percent.  Some 
demographers argued that the decline resulted from legislation that 
led to supply disruptions, including a law increasing the pre-paid 
capital of alcohol producers and retail sellers, and the rocky 
introduction of a unified automated accounting system for alcohol 
production (Ref C).  Other experts were more reluctant to link the 
decline in mortality from alcohol poisonings to alcohol shortages, 
and noted that the number of these deaths had been gradually 
declining over the last two years. 
 
¶10. (SBU) COMMENT:  Many remarked at the notable absence of Ministry 
of Health and Social Development officials.  The conference also 
paid little attention to alcohol awareness and measures to address 
alcohol demand, an issue which is almost never mentioned by Russian 
 
MOSCOW 00001434  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
policy-makers.  Western alcohol companies are adapting their 
international awareness campaigns to Russia by emphasizing the need 
to educate consumers about responsible drinking, such as how many 
Russians do not seem to recognize that beer is an alcoholic beverage 
like wine and spirits (Ref C).  A medical officer from the Ministry 
of Internal Affairs who did attend the conference, told us drinking 
on the job is increasingly a problem within the police, and asked 
about the experiences of U.S. police forces in managing alcohol 
prevention and treatment programs.  Conference participants intend 
to present their conclusions and recommendations to the Presidential 
Administration and to First Deputy Prime Minister Medvedev, but as 
one well-known demographer told us, his own detailed reports on the 
role of alcohol on Russia's demographic situation had been sitting 
in the Presidential Administration for a year and a half with no 
reaction. 
 
¶11. (SBU) COMMENT CONT'D: Two officials from the Presidential 
Administration briefly appeared: Nelli Naigovzina, Deputy Head of 
the Expert Department, and Elvira Nabiullina, Head of Experts 
Council for the National Priority Projects.  Their presence suggests 
that the Russian Government recognizes that widespread alcohol abuse 
is fueling the overall demographic crisis.  Despite the attention to 
the issue, we do not expect the government to introduce any major 
anti-alcohol measures, given upcoming Duma and Presidential 
elections, and the still bitter memories of Gorbachev's anti-alcohol 
campaign in the mid-80s.  Gorbachev introduced a series of stringent 
anti-alcohol measures in May 1985 that lasted until December 1987. 
Although Russian mortality dramatically improved during this period, 
the measures made Gorbachev extremely unpopular, and led to 
shortages of sugar as a result of widespread moonshine production. 
 
RUSSELL