Vodka is the glue that binds Russia, but it is also a major cause of ill-health in the former superpower. According to one recent study, a quarter of all Russian men will die before they reach their mid-fifties, and their high consumption of alcohol - particularly vodka - is seen as partly to blame...
..."The overshoot of vodka prices leads only to increasing consumption of bootleg [spirits]," said Putin. "I think the relevant structures should think of that".

The price of the spirit is up 30 per cent in the last year, to around £2.70 for half a litre.