IGOR Volodin believes vodka is no more harmful than chocolate.
He is proud to be the first Russian to produce the spirit in a special women's version, designed to be sipped with salad after a workout in the gym.
Touted as a glamour product for upwardly mobile women in booming Russia, Damskaya or 'Ladies' vod
ka comes in lime, vanilla and almond flavours, or just straight for cocktails. But it is alarming doctors, who fear a fresh wave of female alcoholics in a country already suffering one of the world's worst drink problems.
The Moscow Serbsky Institute for Social and Forensic Psychiatry says Russia has 2.5 million registered alcoholics, but adds the real figure is seven times higher – more than 10% of Russia's population of 142 million.
Despite the traditional view in Russia that women don't drink, Yuri Sorokin, a psychologist running a Moscow rehabilitation centre for drug addicts and alcoholics, said 60% of those he treats for alcoholism are female, including the wives of Russian millionaires.
"I believe that female alcoholism is a huge problem in Russia," he said.
Adverts for the new 'Ladies' vodka show the elegant, violet-tinted bottle wearing a pleated white skirt which is blown upwards to reveal the label.
The images confront commuters on Moscow's metro, catch the eye on the street and leap from the pages of women's magazines.
"Between us, girls…" runs the slogan on the adverts, which tout the product as an ideal tipple for hen parties.
"Women need a drink of their own," said Volodin, sitting next to an array of his 'Ladies' vodkas.
"In Moscow, there are pink taxis for ladies, there are light cigarettes," he said. "But there was no vodka, and we asked ourselves: 'Why?' More people suffer from diabetes in Russia than from alcoholism, but no one bans chocolate advertisements."
Sales of vodka in Russia are estimated to be worth around £7.5bn a year, with a total annual volume of some 2.2 billion litres, Volodin said. Annual market growth in value is 15%, he said, thanks to rising incomes and higher sales of premium vodkas.
Volodin heads the Deyros company, which has been selling spirits on the Russian market for more than 10 years. 'Ladies' is produced at a distillery in St Petersburg and retails at around 300 roubles (£6.40) in upmarket shops in big cities.
The full article contains 405 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
