Page 11 - RusRPTSept20

Expanding minimum pricing to other alcoholic beverages Banning off-premises alcohol sales after 11 p.m. Introducing an alcohol marketing blackout
Restricting alcohol availability in some regions
'Bootleg booze'
The drop in consumption was also driven by a steep decline in demand for illegally produced alcohol, the study showed.
"The dramatic decline in consumption of homemade, smuggled or illegally produced alcohol in the Russian Federation is attributable to the government's adoption of evidence-based alcohol control policies," said the WHO's Carina Ferreira-Borges.
"These results show that measures such as the introduction of monitoring systems, price increases and limited alcohol availability work to save lives and health system costs. I trust that other countries in Europe will adopt similar policies to protect people's health."
Earlier WHO research showed Russian adults now drink less alcohol than their German and French counterparts.
Anti-smoking drive
Meanwhile, a decree banning smoking on private balconies went into effect on Tuesday. The legislation, signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, bans any "open fire" on balconies of residential houses or hotels.
"In 60% of cases, the cause of balcony fires is careless smoking," Russia's emergencies ministry said last week, adding that it was not waging war on smokers.
More than 2,000 fires started on balconies so far this year.
2.6 Imperialists vs democrats
A study conducted in May 2020 by the Belanovsky Group revealed that Russian society is divided into “democrats” and “imperialists”.
“Democrats” are a group of people committed to civil liberties who believe that an active civil society, rather than a “national leader,” is the key to the success of positive change.
The ideological basis is democracy, protest against political manipulation and authorities’ actions that go beyond the legal framework. The bulk of democrats are critical of the Russian government’s policies.
The “Imperialists” stand for the restoration of the Great Russian Empire. From an ideological point of view, among them there are monarchists, supporters of the restoration of the USSR, supporters of Stalin.
There are also supporters of a “strong hand” without a definite political marker. Their ideological basis is Russian nationalism, patriotism, imperialism, a negative attitude towards Western democracy, as well as a stake on the use of force as the main tool for managing society. At the same time, some of the imperialists have a negative attitude towards the existing Russian government, accusing it of weakness and inconsistency.
Between these ideological poles are the “apolitical” and people with an eclectic worldview, who will be called undecided below.
A telephone survey of 1,600 people was conducted in June 2020 based on an
11 RUSSIA Country Report September 2020 www.intellinews.com