May 7, 1992
Free prices for vodka and alcohol have been introduced in Russia.
This event truly meant a lot for both the people and history: the transition from a rigid planned economy to a wild market. From Gorbachev's prohibition to the free sale of cheap, low-quality alcohol. This is a historical event that will be remembered not for the next 100 years, but for much longer.. Konstantin Babkin, politician
This happened after the Soviet state's 70-year monopoly on alcohol: by the late 1980s, vodka sales accounted for a third of food trade revenues and a sixth of the USSR's total trade turnover.
However, the anti-alcohol campaign launched under Gorbachev, The market was severely disrupted: vodka was in severe short supply and sold with coupons, and moonshining flourished. Residents no longer cared what kind of vodka was on the table—as long as it was there. People even bought bottles without labels.
If everyone drank vodka
Communism would have come
If only we could live without worrying.
They sang songs and drank vodka.
Yes, good, damn it
You just need to know your limits
(Vika Tsyganova, song “Russian Vodka”, 1992)
As a result, the state released prices on alcohol, allowing it to be produced anywhere and sold anywhere.
At the same time, an excise tax of 80 percent was established, which made legal production pointless: this immediately led to the emergence of underground counterfeit goods ("bootlegs"), which were produced, including in official factories, without notifying official authorities.
Imported alcohol entered the market. One of the first and most popular was "Royal," which was imported from Hamburg (or, according to another version, from Holland). A liter bottle of 96% alcohol could be purchased for 300 rubles, while a half-liter of Russian 40-percent vodka cost 120 rubles. It instantly gained popularity because one bottle could be used to mix four (for the price of two). Plus, the colorful label with crowns and "golden" lettering in a foreign language enhanced the "unforgettable emotions."
The death rate from alcohol increased, according to some sources, sixfold: mass poisonings were linked, among other things, to the "Royal" spirit, which was used in the home-made production of vodka sold in kiosks.
The center of production of "palevo" became North Ossetia. Part of the proceeds from sales went to finance the Spartak-Alania football club: its victory in the 1995 Russian Championship was dubbed the "vodka victory."
I took a deep breath, then a strong exhale, counted to three, and poured the stuff into my mouth. The effect was monstrous, and I'll remember it forever. But that's where my memories end, because any memories end after a sip of Royal. (Yuri Stoyanov, actor)
In 1995, after the adoption of the law on state regulation of alcoholic beverages, “Royal” disappeared from official sales.
Another popular vodka brand, Rasputin, was owned by Germans. In the 90s, there were about 40 counterfeit versions of this vodka in Russia, and the company developed an uncounterfeitable holographic sticker (with a winking Rasputin on the bottle neck).
Once at the top, once at the bottom
(slogan from a TV commercial for Rasputin vodka)
After the Russians learned to counterfeit holograms, the brand left the country. Another theory is that this was because in 1996, Russian television banned advertising of strong alcohol, which coincided with the rise of the dollar.
The government tried to restore the state monopoly on alcohol back in 1993, when Boris Yeltsin adopted a corresponding decree. But the attempt failed: independent producers already had complete control of the market.
In 1998, the state inspectorate for ensuring the state monopoly on alcohol was abolished: formally, the state does not control, but regulates, the alcohol market.
