90.3%
of Russians believe that fake alcohol products are widespread in Russia. About half of respondents believe that more fakes have appeared over the last 2-3 years.
Russians consume counterfeit alcohol less frequently than they wear fake ‘branded’ clothing or use pirated audio or video recordings. Among the people who said they have consumed alcohol in the last 30 days, 85.1% believe that they drank only legally produced beverages. Another 9.2% were unable to answer this question exactly. Only 5.8% of Russians admitted that they drank counterfeit alcohol, but half of these did not know at the time of purchase that they were getting a fake product.
This information is presented in a study by Zoya Kotelnikova, senior researcher at the HSE’s Laboratory for Studies in Economic Sociology, entitled ‘Consumption of Counterfeit Alcohol in Modern Russia: the Role of Culture and Structural Factors.’
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