Nizhny Novgorod deputies ask the State Duma to tighten control over the sale of alcohol.

      19 November 2025 13:17 Society NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" - Sergey Bishletov

      Regulation of alcohol trade has once again become a subject of discussion in the Legislative Assembly of the Nizhny Novgorod Region. At the Committee on Economics meeting on November 19, parliamentarians supported an initiative to send an appeal to State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin asking him to clarify the current rules for selling alcohol.

      One of the main goals of the appeal, deputies said, is the need to combat illegal alcohol trade. According to Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Assembly Dmitry Krasnov, it is important to support honest entrepreneurs who have to compete with shadow sellers.

      Deputy Anton Ananyin gave a concrete example: in the Sormovsky district of the regional center, four outlets operate within 30 to 70 meters of a school where alcohol is freely sold. He called this situation unacceptable.

      Ananyin's colleague Dmitry Malukhin drew attention to the situation in rural areas where, he said, illegal sellers are already staging a kind of competition among themselves. He stressed that the prosecutor's office should become more actively involved in addressing the problem, as it has the necessary powers.

      Committee Chairman Igor Norenkov noted that the appeal to Volodin is a response to the real difficulties faced by municipal authorities. According to him, there are practically no effective mechanisms on the ground today to curb illegal alcohol trade.

      "Our proposal conforms to the previously approved plan. It is necessary to create a legally sound procedure for identifying violators. Right now, it is often extremely difficult to distinguish an illegal seller from an ordinary café," Norenkov explained.

      In addition, the deputies propose to enshrine clear definitions at the federal level for the terms "restaurant," "bar," and "café." In their view, this will prevent cases where sales outlets exploit vague wording to bypass restrictions on alcohol sales.

      The draft appeal was supported by 12 deputies, with one abstention. The document will be considered at the next meeting of the regional parliament.

      It was previously reported that almost 900 bottles of alcohol without a license were found in the Nizhny Novgorod Region.

      Recall that the government of the Nizhny Novgorod Region continues to work on a bill that restricts alcohol sales in the region.

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