Russia, which is currently at the 4th place in the world ranking of alcohol consumption, has decided to start a war against alcohol by introducing a new law.

According to the Associated Press’ report in January, the Russian government has enacted a new law to change beer’s status from “beverage” to “alcohol” in order to reduce national alcohol consumption.

Under the new law, Russian people will only be allowed to buy beer at restaurants, cafe, or stores with a size of over 50m2. It will be banned for regular stores to sell beer between 11PM and 8AM the following day. Within this time period, people are now allowed to have beer in public spaces, such as parks, beaches, or playgrounds. In addition, the Russian government entirely banned the Russian media from airing alcohol commercials.

So far, Russian people have purchased beer from a small chain of stores on the street called “KIOSK.” However, the sight of people drinking beer on the street will soon be disappearing.

In fact, it is not the first effort to reduce people’s alcohol consumption in Russia. In 2011, Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev named Russia’s excessive drinking the “nation’s disaster,” pushing for several regulations in order to curb the alcohol consumption. The Russian government imposed 20 percent increased taxation on beer, and it is planning to further increase the tax by 20 percent this year and then 25 percent more the following year. Russian people’s favorite drink, the vodka, was not exempt from regulatory measures. The price of vodka in Russia has increased by 36 percent this year compared to that of last year.

The excessive alcohol consumption is a deep-rooted problem in Russia. Russian adult men drink between 16-32 liters a year on average, and about 500,000 people die due to alcohol-related problems every year.

According to the World Trade Organization (WTO)’s report last year, the Russians’ alcohol consumption was 15.8L per person on average, which makes the world’s fourth highest consumption level. WTO also added that one out of five men and six percent of the entire Russian women population die because of the excessive alcohol consumption.

The British newspaper Telegraph reported that vodka has been the most popular alcohol in Russia for many years, but beer has caught up with vodka’s popularity in recent years. The newspaper added a quote by the head of the Russian Beer Brewer Association that the new law will increase the consumption of vodka, and cause more serious problems.

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Vladimir Putin has done it again; Putin received over 63% of the votes for presidency in Russia this past Sunday leaving several mad, dazed and confused. While it seemed certain that Putin was going to win, many are questioning his future plans for Russia, and his relationships with the rest of the world.

After tens of thousands of Russians rioted against Putin in Moscow on Monday evening, many are questioning if his re-election into office was “rigged.” Opposition activist Garry Kasprov believes that there was “massive fraud” surrounding the election by claiming the polls had been packed with additional voters.

And Putin is even admitting that their might have been some sort of violation of the electoral law. On Wednesday, Putin spoke out about any potential violations by stating that, “it’s possible there were some irregularities; there probably were some.” Putin believes that these irregularities could have only influenced up to 1% of the total vote while opposition supporters believe that his victory was inflated by over 10% of votes.

Considering all of the allegations of electoral fraud, the U.S. State Department decided to ask for a “credible” investigation of the election. Additionally, the department chose not to congratulate Putin as cause for concern of Putin’s motives rises. The United States and Europe have concerns that Putin will try to intervene with their policies regarding threats of Israel’s military strike against Iran and the bloodshed from the uprising going on in Syria.

While Putin claims that he won’t dabble in any international interference with what’s going on in Syria, he claims that the U.S. would rather be “vassals” than allies. Putin is already criticizing the United States and Europe for their plans to place missile defense elements in Eastern Europe but claims that he is fully against any military strikes against Iran.

Former Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev sought to improve Russia’s relationship with the U.S. during his time as President from 2008 to 2012 and even signed an agreement with the United States regarding a nuclear arms reduction pact as well as working toward making Russia one of the countries part of the World Trade Organization, a goal the country had been working on for nearly two decades.

It seems that Putin has little intentions of further improving ties with the U.S. as he is already opposing a new United Nations resolution with Syria. Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov claims the reason for the opposition is because the resolution is a “slightly modified version” of what Russia was wanting.

Putin plans on spending over $700 billion dollars in the next decade in order to create a stronger military and upgrade the country’s weaponry. Considering that a single presidential term in Russia is only six years, it looks as though Putin is already looking toward re-election in 2018. The European Union relies on Russia for approximately one quarter of it’s natural gas, as Russia relies on the Western hemisphere for technological purposes to modernize Russia’s economy.

Tony Brenton, a former U.K. ambassador to Russia, put it bluntly as he stated, “like it or not, we have to do business with the Russian government, whoever is in power and however they got there.” Despite all the allegations of electoral fraud regarding Putin, that’s just what the U.S. might have to do.

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Vladimir Putin, former agent of the KGB (Committee for State Security) and candidate for a third presidential mandate, tries by all means to hide his personal life. In 1999, Putin took office as acting president of the Euro-Asian country after the resignation of Boris Yeltsin. He won the elections in 2000 and was re-elected four years later.

After the end of his second mandate in 2008, the prime minister of that time, Dmitry Medvedev, was elected his successor, and only a day after, Putin took the post of the new prime minister. Paradoxically, all the political power was in his hands again. This provoked the discontent of the Russian nation to some extent.

People are well-acquainted with Putin, but his personal life is a mystery, even for his compatriots. His wife, Lyudmila Putina, hardly ever attends official public events. Putin has been in power for more than ten years, but the Russian community does not know what his daughters look like. There are contradictory speculations about where they live. In 2010, there was a rumor that his youngest heir was to marry her boyfriend, son of a retired North Korean admiral. However, this news was denied by both sides.

Putin is almost never asked questions concerning his private life. For the Russian media, it is a subject of taboo. The reason may lie in the closure of a public newspaper in 2008, after they published an article that claimed Putin had left his wife and married a 24 year-old Olympic gymnast named Alina Kabaeva, who was a deputy and a member of his party at that time.

In the totalitarian past of Russia, it was easy for politicians to stop the spread of rumors, whether correct or incorrect. However, it becomes more tricky in todays digital age. Millions of blogs and web pages post stories about Putin and his family which are, in many cases, completely made up. Last year, one rumor stated that Putin spent his life in a monastery. Of course, the Russian Orthodox Church called these speculations “nonsense”, and the spokesman of the prime minister at that time declined to comment.

Pressed by the global media society and the scandalous gossip concerning himself, Putin revealed that his daughters lead an ordinary life. However, the the Russian nation wants to know where they are. Maybe in his next mandate, he will reveal this secret. In 2010, it was said that Putin and his wife were about to divorce, but they appeared on a talk show together. However, Lyudmila was not wearing her wedding ring. That made the newspapers much fiercer in their exaggeration about the marital drama of the Putins.

American and European journalists have the freedom to delve into the personal life of their political leaders, but in Russia, authorities are protected by the law. That is why Putin will always remain an enigma for the Russian nation and the world.

Image Courtesy of  Degtyaryov Andrey Leonidovich / Shutterstock.com

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This coming Sunday is the presidential election in Russia, and Vladimir Putin is sure he is going to win. But who is Vladimir Putin? And why is he so sure to pull a win? Despite allegations of Putin’s political party’s widespread official fraud, the latest surveys show that Putin will have the vote of approximately 60% of voters.

Putin as a Russian politician served as president of Russia from 2000 to 2008 and is currently the Prime Minister of Russia. He also has a background serving in the KGB for sixteen years. Based on a law change, Russia’s running presidential term has been increased from four to six years. The current President, Dmitry Medvedev, has decided not to run for re-election.

There is much controversy and protesting going on against Putin coming back into power as President. Putin has maintained a very strong criticism of the United States yet contradictorily has stated that, “President Barack Obama’s policies of ensuring ties with Russia,” will “successfully negotiate Russia’s access into the World Trade Organization.”

Regardless of the massive protests against Putin, he has clearly stated that he wants to help Russia regain social and economic stability.

However, Putin’s certainty in his unquestioned win is not necessarily a reflection of reality. In Moscow, thousands have been protesting against re-electing Putin. This has been the most populated show of outrage and anger since the Soviet Union collapsed, nearly twenty years ago. Despite the massive protests, he is staying confident that he will pull through and gain his victory and has clearly stated that he wants to help Russia regain social and economic stability.

If elected, Putin will be eligible to serve twelve more years as the President of Russia. Even though he has not been elected as President yet, Putin is already talking about running for re-election in 2018. If he wins both the 2012 and 2018 elections, he would have served almost a quarter of a century, which is longer than any other individual in Russia’s history other than Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

As Putin gets closer to becoming the Russian President once more, the Syrian government is crumbling. President Obama disclosed a statement that Syrian’s President, Bashar al-Assad’s “days are numbered.” Meanwhile, Obama is working hard to speed up the process of Syria becoming a dictatorship. Russia is currently blocking UN action in helping this happen.

The biggest question in the current political climate revolve around the long-term impact of Russia with a Putin-led government. Both in terms of the American-Russian relations and the repercussions of political complications on Russia’s chances of becoming a part of the WTO.

The Russian Presidential Election will take place this Sunday, March 4. Stay tuned in to see if Putin will be the President of Russia for the newly extended term of six years.

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