Illustration: Petr Sarukhanov/Novaya Gazeta »
Does everyone have a drink? There is an idea that cannot be comprehended with a sober head… Imagine: a small village in Tatarstan, winter, 20 degrees Vilfand. We should warm up, but the locals are destitute — there is no liquor store here. A village man walks out the gate with a smartphone, asks the search engine to find such a store, and it builds a route for him to the district center.
You never know what is missing in the village. Let's say libraries. And people do not have the opportunity to stop drinking and reading voraciously. But about the library — another time, when some State Book Inspectorate meets for a collegium. In the meantime, the collegium of the State Alcohol Inspectorate of Tatarstan has passed, and we will not be distracted from the fundamental problem of the village people. Those who feed us, and whom we, it turns out, do not give.
So, the board and the speech of the head of the inspection, Zhaudat Akhmetkhanov. And his message, which will not leave anyone indifferent: 593 rural settlements of the republic with a population of more than a hundred people do not have retail outlets for the sale of alcoholic beverages.
Do not rush to send humanitarian aid to these villages in jingling boxes.
The Republic will not leave its inhabitants in trouble and will cope with the neglected problem itself. “Together with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Tatarstan, the Tatpotrebsoyuz and the leadership of municipalities,” said Zhaudat Akhmetkhanov, “we are setting the task of increasing efforts to open stores in such villages and villages.”Increasing efforts is not limited to this. “An agreement has been reached with Tatspirtprom,” Akhmetkhanov continued, “so that republican products are sold to such stores at the minimum prices established by law, and various promotional campaigns are applied.”
The action «Bring a friend» immediately comes to mind (only then bring a friend back to the house).
And if you brought two friends, then for three, you should probably get a glass with the emblem of Tatspirtprom and three caramels.
If someone says that it is not the business of the alcohol inspection to promote the villain with a sticker to the quiet corners of the Motherland, that this organization should regulate the alcohol market, and not promote the sale of alcohol, then he did not understand the intention. And the idea that we mentioned at the very beginning, it turns out, is to displace home-made alcohol without a sticker, which is consumed in the villages on holidays, weekends and weekdays, with licensed vodka. There is no question of someone quit drinking. Let him drink, but do not ruin his health with the swill of a local moonshiner, but correct it with reliable products of the distillery.
The Council of Elders of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Republic of Tatarstan has already opposed such regulation of the market. The gray-bearded elders called on the State Alcohol Inspectorate of the Republic to «protect Tatar villages from expanding alcohol sales outlets.» The indignation of Muslims was also supported by the Orthodox clergy of the Kazan diocese. And how will it end? Is it really the opening of chess clubs and bowling alleys in 593 villages instead of alcohol stalls?
That's really hardly. These stalls do not open out of the blue. We underestimate our alcohol lobby and its threats to the peaceful life of citizens. We are concerned that NATO is expanding to the east, while the distilleries are expanding on all four sides.