Russia's president says alcohol consumption "a national disaster..."

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday called time on the country's vodka tipplers, saying alcoholism had become a "national disaster."

Medvedev said measures aimed at reducing binge drinking had not reduced alcoholism in Russia, where downing vast amounts of vodka at one sitting is an integral part of national culture.

"If I speak openly, I think that one cannot speak of any change, nothing has changed," Medvedev told a meeting of senior officials in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, according to a copy of his remarks supplied by the Kremlin.

"Alcoholism in our country is a national disaster." More...

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