To drink or not to drink? How life is lived in the "sober" villages of Yakutia.
There are more than 200 villages in Yakutia where prohibition has been in place. This is part of the anti-alcohol campaign the region has been waging for 10 years. Residents of these "sober villages" have varying opinions on the impact of this radical approach to combating alcoholism. Official statistics are equally mixed. While the number of crimes committed while intoxicated and the incidence of alcoholism have decreased, Yakutia still ranks low for drunken crime, and beer drinking is on the rise. NeMoskva reports on how Yakutia is combating alcoholism and the results.
Yakutia authorities: sobriety is the norm
On April 6, a liquor store opened in the village of Bysyttakh, 800 km from Yakutsk. Fortunately, there was no rush; only a few people showed up, and those were from neighboring villages, according to local administration head Alexander Stepanov.
Bysyttakh is a remote village in the Nyurbinsky ulus (as districts are called in Yakutia). It's located 70 kilometers from the district center, but there are two more villages further away: Khaty and Malykai. It has a population of about 400. The village rarely makes the news. A search engine lists information about the installation of a stele and the improvement of a site at the entrance to the village in 2018. Last summer, republican media reported that local teenagers had gone on a motorcycle race, and two of them died in an accident. The village's latest online mention is related to the opening of a liquor store.
Initially, a specialized liquor store was planned for Malykai. But according to store owner Alexander Melguy, Malykai residents "quickly got busy"—the village council passed a resolution increasing the distance between the liquor store and social services. Since the village lacked many administrative buildings suitable for retail, each one fell under the regulations, and the plan was abandoned.
The businessman then obtained a license to sell alcohol in the village of Bysyttakh, so that he could expand his sales to neighboring villages. The local administration, as in the case of Malykai, resisted the businessman's plans. At a village meeting, the decision was made to ban alcohol consumption and introduce a prohibition law in the village.
However, residents of Bysyttakh, also known as Malzhagarsky Nasleg, failed to submit the bill to the republic's parliament in time. It was adopted in March and will come into force on September 1.
The establishment of sobriety zones is part of an anti-alcohol campaign launched by regional authorities since 2013. That year, the republic's parliament, Il Tumen, passed a law restricting the sale of alcohol by time. (In Yakutia, alcohol can be legally purchased from 14:00 PM to 20:00 PM.) Authorities then banned the sale of alcohol in stores located in apartment buildings and introduced requirements for retail outlets, leading to the proliferation of liquor markets.
Vodka costs 1000 rubles, delivery is the same
The event in Maljagar would have gone unnoticed if it had not been publicized by Il Tumen deputy from the New People party, Alexander Ivanov.
"While traveling, I spoke with residents of the Malykaisky district—the villages of Malykai, Khaty, and Malzhagar. Everyone had the same position: prevent the liquor store from opening. I even received calls from men who had quit drinking, saying that if alcohol sales resumed, they wouldn't be able to resist the temptation," the parliamentarian said, not hiding his indignation.
Liquor store owner Alexander Melguy has a different perspective. He claims that alcohol sales were ongoing in the villages in question. It was simply illegal.
"There are two or three alcohol outlets in every village. It would be better if Deputy Ivanov addressed this issue instead of creating hype over nothing. Or does someone profit from alcohol being sold illegally, in violation of the law, without paying taxes?" asks the co-owner of AM Osnova rhetorically.
His account could not be confirmed. According to Deputy Ivanov, residents of a neighboring village buy vodka from the Melguya store for one thousand rubles. The buyer also pays for delivery. To save on the courier service, which costs at least one thousand rubles, people buy 10 bottles at a time, Ivanov claims.
"There's nothing good about this. Part of my pension and my meager salary goes toward buying expensive vodka and paying for its delivery," the deputy said.
Delivery even 100 km away
A similar alcohol delivery service operates in villages where prohibition has been implemented. Residents of these "sober" villages themselves report this. Vast distances and impassable roads are no obstacle. The village of Zhilinda is one of three settlements in the Olenyoksky Ulus, located almost 100 km from the district center. It can only be reached by helicopter, boat in the summer, and a temporary road in the winter. This road is being built across the frozen river as a charity project by Almazy Anabara, a subsidiary of ALROSA.
Since 2016, Zhilinda has been designated a "sober" village. "I can't say they don't drink at all. The locals bring their own vodka along the winter road and sell it," said a village resident.
Similar situation with the village of Bestyakh, declared a sober zone in 2016. To buy alcohol, residents of this small village (the total population of Zhigansky Ulus is 4600) travel off-road to Zhigansk, the district center.
However, if we judge according to the results In the September 2018 referendum on banning alcohol sales in Zhigansk, the majority of residents favored a sober lifestyle. Of the 1366 people who participated in the vote, 854 voted for the prohibition, while 486 voted against.
Following the referendum, the district council of deputies issued a resolution banning alcohol sales in the district center effective December 1, 2018. The ruling was challenged by the Arctic company, citing abuse of authority by local deputies. The Supreme Court of Yakutia ruled in favor of the plaintiff. Alcohol sales continue in Zhigansk.
You can't see drunk people on the street.
There are over 200 "sober" villages in Yakutia. One of them is located 40 km from Yakutsk. Reaching the village of Tekhtyur in the Khangalassky District is easy. The village is located along the federal highway leading to the neighboring Olekminsky and Lensky uluses. Like most Yakut villages, there is a village cemetery at the entrance to Tekhtyur. A road winding through deep snowdrifts suggests a recent visit to the cemetery. A herd of horses roams nearby through the snow-covered fields.
The village is set back from the highway and difficult to reach on foot. Local residents use their own cars or take taxis. It has a population of about 600. In the summer, the village swells with summer residents who choose the picturesque views and gentle stream for a quiet getaway.
Exactly seven years ago, they stopped selling alcohol in Tekhtyur. "A sober village? I don't know," said 59-year-old Natalya Semyonovna, surprised when we met her on the main street. She was born in Tekhtyur and worked in a kindergarten all her life. Now, on weekends and vacations, she goes to Yakutsk to visit her only son.
Many families here face a similar situation: parents stay home, while children go to live and work in the republic's capital. The three children of 63-year-old Vasily, a retired driver, have long since settled in Yakutsk. They help their parents maintain a herd of horses.
"We haven't kept cows for a long time. It's expensive and labor-intensive. And my wife had no one to help when I was traveling long distances," the man says, adding that the number of families with smallholdings in the village can be counted on one hand.
In this regard, Tekhtyur is no different from many other villages in Yakutia. The economy there is built around public institutions: a school, a kindergarten, and a first aid station. There are a couple of farms and entrepreneurs who own grocery stores.
"I got married and moved here eight years ago," says 25-year-old Svetlana Aleksandrova, a Russian language and literature teacher. She approves of the ban on alcohol sales in Tekhtyur.
"That's certainly a good thing; at least the kids don't have to see drunk people staggering around. But we have to admit, everyday drinking hasn't gone away. I think people still drink," Svetlana reasons.
The House of Culture staff also speaks of the benefits of the prohibition. Local residents work out in the gym every day, they say. The House of Culture and the gym are housed in the same building—an arched structure in the village center, built in 2020.
According to artistic director Daria Zakharova, various events and competitions are held weekly, with active participation primarily by the middle-aged and older generations of village residents. Community center staff say pensioners practice Nordic walking, belong to various hobby clubs, and are involved in community service.
"Young people can also join in the activities, especially if they involve competitions between work teams or neighborhoods. However, they ask that events not be scheduled on Saturdays and Sundays. They spend those days in Yakutsk: going to the cinema, cafes, and relaxing," says Daria Zakharova.
The benefits of prohibition were not assessed
Tekhtyur Head Keskil Bagdariyin is confident that the village's enforced sobriety is beneficial. The fact that children don't see drunk people on the streets is a good thing. He notes that the desire to be a "sober" village is not financially rewarded in any way—there are no subsidies from the republican budget to support this status.
However, it turns out that confirming the results of the anti-alcohol policy with any figures is difficult. No analysis of the material and social well-being of residents during Tekhtyur's years of sobriety has been conducted. There is no research on the impact of the alcohol ban on the socioeconomic development of villages, crime, mortality reduction, and health of the local population, nor at the national level.
But some figures on the incidence of alcoholism do exist.
According to the Yakutsk Republican Narcological Dispensary, the overall incidence of alcohol-related illnesses has decreased by 14% over the past 10 years, reaching 1224,5 cases per 100 people in 2023.
The number of people with primary alcoholism has also decreased. Their number has been halved. In 2023, 1186 new alcoholics were diagnosed, compared to 2050 in 2013. The alcoholism incidence rate decreased by 35% to 118,9 per 100 people.
Currently, 9594 alcoholics and 1498 Yakuts with serious alcohol use are under the supervision of addiction specialists. Ten years ago, the respective numbers were 14,976 and 3221.
The drug control service left our clarifying questions about how primary alcoholism is identified and what factors specifically influenced the decline in the number of alcoholics unanswered.
Many people still die from alcohol
Other statistics indicate that the alcohol-related mortality rate is 29% higher than the national average. Deputy Prime Minister Georgy Stepanov wrote this on his VKontakte page after attending an event discussing public health risks.
At the same time, there is a decrease in the number of crimes committed by Yakuts while intoxicated, сообщает Sociologist Yuri Zhegusov, a proponent of anti-alcohol policy, estimates that 4825 drunken crimes were recorded in 2016, and that number will rise to 2835 in 2023.
This data is confirmed in the report The Yakutia Ministry of Internal Affairs reported a 19,9% decrease in drunken crime last year. However, the republic remains in the worst ranking of Russian regions for this indicator.
But the biggest failure of the republic's anti-alcohol policy over the past 10 years has been the mass deaths from sanitizer poisoning. Eight residents of the village of Tomtor in the Tattinsky district died in November 2020. By that time, the village had been a sobriety zone for three years.
The level of beer alcoholism is growing
"While sales of strong alcoholic beverages have remained virtually constant over the past six years, sales of beer and beer-based beverages have increased by 1,6 times," wrote Deputy Chairman Georgy Stepanov.
The rise in beer-related alcoholism may be linked, among other things, to the prohibitive measures adopted by the authorities. Restricting the hours of alcohol sales has allowed bootlegging to spread. The ban on alcohol sales in grocery stores located in apartment buildings and the introduction of additional requirements have led to the market being divided between several major players in the alcohol business.
"We grew from nothing in three years. Why did we grow so much? Restrictions arose, competition ceased. We had to sell ourselves," said Viktor Dzivitsky, co-owner of the discounter "Bolshe-Menshe."
The "Bolshe-Menshe" trademark is owned by the company "Damiane," which received a license to sell alcohol in 2018. In 2016, "Damiane" earned 253,8 million rubles, and reached its first billion-ruble revenue in 2019, according to its records in the Rusprofil database. By the end of 2023, the company's sales had grown to 2,1 billion rubles, with net profit amounting to 52 million rubles.
In addition to the rapid growth of the alcohol industry, restrictions on alcohol sales hours have led to the proliferation of "nalivakas." These are small retail outlets disguised as bars and located in residential areas. With a few tables and chairs, they can sell beer after 8 p.m. By 2021, there were more than 140 such establishments in Yakutsk.
That same year, the city's mayor, Yevgeny Grigoryev, declared war on "nalivayki" (liquor outlets). To curb their activities, the mayor's office initiated two amendments to the republic's anti-alcohol law. These amendments increase the distance between social institutions and alcohol outlets and the size of the premises where they are located.
The new law, which took effect last September, was expected to lead to the closure of at least 70 fake cafes. A dozen establishments did indeed close. However, similar to the ban that allowed large liquor stores to grow, the market was divided between three chains of liquor stores. One of them, PivoRoob, has 11 branches across the city.
Who are these "sober villages" for?
Over the years of fighting alcoholism in the republic, only one large-scale sports project has emerged to engage Yakuts en masse in physical activity and sports. This is the Yakutsk Half Marathon, held annually since 2016 at the initiative of the Fitness Life sports club. The title sponsors of this event were inDrive and MYTONA. However, in 2022, they relocated abroad, and now some in their home country call their owners traitors.
When asked what the advantage of prohibition is and whether residents of the "sober" village drink, Vasily from Tekhtyur replies: "It's really that long to get to the store in Yakutsk."
The authorities will deliver alcohol directly to villages thousands of kilometers from Yakutsk. The state-owned company Yakutoptorg, which delivers food products to 30 uluses (districts), including hard-to-reach ones, is licensed to sell alcohol. When Il Tumen deputies protested why the government was getting residents of the North drunk, the company responded that alcohol sales were a necessary anti-crisis measure to offset lost revenue. "We sell only locally produced alcohol," Yakutoptorg, recently renamed the Arctic Trade and Logistics Company, emphasized.
Tekhtyur resident Vasily says that today's youth, unlike previous generations, consciously reject reckless drinking. "But they don't want to live in the village and raise cattle and horses," he reasons.
According to the Community Center, there are about 30 young people permanently residing in Tekhtyur. Whether the current schoolchildren will choose to stay in the village remains an open question. The members of Generation Alpha we encountered on the village street spoke exclusively Russian.
