Pour out and forget about it... One of the first victims of the sanctions is Russian vodka

Eugene Bai

“They like Russian vodka”, - said the hero of the film “Autumn Marathon”, Vasily Ignatievich, performed by the incomparable Yevgeny Leonov. Now we need to translate this maxim into the past tense. Russian Standard vodka has been outlawed by the governors of the U.S. states of Utah and Ohio, and other states are reported to follow suit.

As announced by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, the move is in protest of Russia's military operation against Ukraine, and is part of the state's boycott of Russian goods.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine also announced a complete ban on vodka. Now on the shelves of 487 liquor stores of the state - 6400 bottles of "Russian Standard". All of them will be removed from sale within the next day.

It is not yet clear whether Stolichnaya vodka, which dominates all other types of vodka, will be subject to sanctions. "Russian Standard" is excluded from this list because it is bottled at the plant of the corresponding name, owned by Russia. The rights to other types of vodka, regardless of the label, may belong to any other, including American producers.

Two US states have followed the example of Canada, which was the first to ban the sale of Russian vodka. First, this measure was taken last Friday by the authorities of Newfoundland and Labrador. As in the United States, Russian Standard Vodka and Russian Standard Platinum Vodka were banned.

Both provinces in the east of the country with its cold weather are known for their alcohol traditions. But due to their small territories, there are only 25 large liquor stores and 144 express points for issuing alcohol.

A much greater blow to Russian Standard was dealt when the large province of Ontario, which includes Toronto and the capital Ottawa, joined the ban. Stephen DelLuca, leader of the Ontario Liberal Party, has written to the Liquor Control Board, one of the largest in the country, demanding that “Russian vodka” be removed from all shelves. He said that "everything should be used to deprive Vladimir Putin of profits at the provincial and federal levels of the country".

The answer came immediately - the provincial authorities removed the Russian product from the shelves of more than 700 stores.

This is only part of Canada's sanctions package. Its Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, since the beginning of hostilities in Ukraine, has announced sanctions against 58 individuals and companies that are associated with Russia and canceled licenses to export goods to Russia worth 545 million US dollars.

Our reference: according to the 2021 census, 36,991,981 people live in Canada. There are 1,359,655 people from Ukraine.