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Deputy proposes alcohol ban for State Duma

Ozerov wants to extend the list of places where alcohol sales are prohibited by including premises of the bodies of state power

MOSCOW, September 19 (Itar-Tass) - State Duma deputy Andrej Ozerov, of the A Just Russia party, has proposed banning alcohol sales on the premises of "bodies of state power". Plans were presented to the lower house of parliament on Thursday, an institution also targeted by the campaigner.

Ozerov wants to extend the list of places where alcohol sales are prohibited by including “premises of the bodies of state power of the Russian Federation, bodies of state power of the subjects of the Russian Federation and local self-government” along with state and municipal institutions.

An explanatory note to the proposal recalls steps in recent years to curb alcoholism within the country. “There were over 30 similar bills under consideration in the 6th Duma, a number of which became federal laws,” the parliamentarian says. However, they imposed no restrictions on selling alcohol on the premises of state and municipal bodies and institutions, including the State Duma itself, Ozerov says. “There was a proposal in the State Duma Commission on Mandate Affairs and Duma Deputy Ethics to ban alcohol sales in the State Duma, but for some reason, this initiative received no support,” he notes.

The deputy says “state and municipal employees should correspond in their beliefs with aims and tasks which are being fulfilled within the Russian anti-alcohol campaign”. It is inadmissible “to have places selling alcohol on the premises of the bodies of state power”, he adds.