The reduction in hours when shops may sell hard alcohol may lead to a revival of brewing moonshine, Russian Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov said in his blog on Monday.
Last week, Moscow authorities shortened the period of when shops may sell hard alcohol in line with the Kremlin-led campaign to crack down on alcohol abuse.
Currently, Muscovites are not allowed to buy alcohol from 11:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. The new rules extend the period by three hours, making alcohol sales illegal between 10:00 p.m. and 10:00 a.m. and will come into force in September.
"Those who want to drink [alcohol], will have to buy alcohol in after hours clubs at exorbitant prices, and [this will] revive bootleggers and moonshine," Mironov said.
"I think the measures suggested by the Moscow authorities will not turn people from drinking," he continued, adding that better measures would be to ban retailing alcohol in unauthorized places.
Mironov also said that authorities should consider the recreation of occupational therapy rehabilitation centers that existed during the Soviet era. RIA Novosti
