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Vodka, Brake Fluid, Perfume -
Some Russians Drink It All
 
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MOSCOW, Sept 1 (AFP) - Russians are famed for their love of vodka, but many also slake their thirst for liquor with less traditional beverages such as perfume, brake liquid or disinfectant, blithely ignoring the risk of death.
 
In early July, a small woodcutters' party in the Siberian forest ended in tragedy. Ten people died from swallowing an explosive concoction of 90 percent proof alcohol diluted with brake liquid.
 
Interviewed by police, a survivor of the drinking bout expained that the lumberjacks were dozens of kilometres (miles) away from the nearest village, had nothing else to water down the pure alcohol and were desperate for a drink.
 
Brake liquid, apparently sought after by connoisseurs, had already caused four fatalities a fortnight before in the Moscow region.
 
A bottle of vodka costs around 60 roubles in the shops, around two dollars. Too expensive for some who turn to moonshine or any other alcohol-based liquid.
 
In Russian cities, drinkers appreciate Esculape disinfectant (made from 90 percent proof alcohol), which costs half the price of vodka.
 
Another popular product, say perfume shop assistants, is "Rose Water", a 40 percent eau de Cologne that is a cheap buy. Others prefer anti-freeze.
 
On ships, sailors often knock back methylated spirits meant for the upkeep of the engines. Some die, others go blind.
 
There is a great tolerance in Russia towards heavy drinkers. Popular criticism of former president Boris Yeltsin had nothing to do with his vodka consumption, seen as perfectly normal by most of his compatriots.
 
Foreigners are not so understanding.
 
The director of the Russian space agency's flight control centre, Vladimir Lobachev, spent a night in jail after being discovered drunk on a beach near Cape Canaveral, Florida last year, just as a Russian astronaut was blasting off onboard the US shuttle Discovery.
 
Russians' legendary resistance to alcohol was illustrated when a driver was arrested in the central region of Kazan with 12 grammes of alcohol in his blood, more than twice the level seen as mortal (five grammes).
 
"Sooner or later, Russia will learn to drink and the people will stop drowning themselves in alcohol", the Monitor weekly from Nizhny-Novgorod assured optmistically in a recent issue.
 
But in the meantime, there are new products on the market which soften the effects of over-consumption, notably a vodka with secret ingredients "which does not give a hangover," according to its manufacturers.
 
Those who are sceptical about this miracle vodka can buy cans of brine, a mixture that indisputably helps to restore one from the ravages of drink.
 
Or why not go into home production? A 190-page manual "Samogon and home brewed vodkas," sold at Moscow bookshops for less than a dollar, explains step-by-step how to build your own still and prepare 500 recipes for vodka and samogon (home-made alcohol flavoured with dill, tarragon or horseradish, made from beetroot, potatoes or sugar).
 
Two recipes grab the eye: "fast vodka," ready in two hours (for emergencies) and "love vodka" (ginger, celery, nutmeg...) supposed to have powerful aphrodisiac qualities.



 
 
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