Vladimir Putin orders clampdown on "surrogate" alcohol as deaths rise

Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has ordered the government to crack down on so-called surrogate alcohol, as the death toll from consumption of a fake batch of bath tincture exceeded 60.

Putin on Wednesday demanded new regulations be put in place to tighten controls over the production and sale of liquids including perfume, cleaning fluids, medicines and cosmetics that contain more than 25% alcohol. He also told the government to look at increasing the legal consequences for violations in the production and sale of these items.

The death toll in the Siberian city of Irkutsk over recent days has now reached 62. Investigators on Monday said they had discovered an underground laboratory in the city making fake boyaryshnik, a tincture supposedly meant to be added to baths for relaxation. The fluid, which normally contains 93% ethanol, as well as hawthorn extract and lemon oil, is widely drunk in Russia as a cheap substitute for alcohol.

However, police found that the batch in Irkutsk contained methanol, a poisonous substance found in antifreeze, instead of ethanol. Local authorities declared a state of emergency in Irkutsk on Monday, and across the wider region on Tuesday. Police seized thousands of bottles of the liquid from shops and kiosks across the region, and authorities ordered a temporary ban on the sale of all fluids containing alcohol.

Twelve people have been arrested for distributing the fake batch, and courts in Irkutsk remanded them in custody on Wednesday.

According to Irkutsk region’s ministry of health, 107 people have been poisoned by the batch of fake boyaryshnik, with 62 dead so far. Around half of them died in hospital, while others were already dead on arrival. There are still 36 people in hospital. Four people have been released having made what local doctors called a “miracle recovery”.

There are two main problems in Russia’s surrogate alcohol market: first is the widespread consumption of items marked as perfumes or bath tinctures. They are exempt from sales restrictions and taxes that normal alcoholic drinks would carry but are often sold at drinks kiosks where it is obvious people would purchase them for consumption. In one Russian region, automated street machines selling Boyaryshnik were installed earlier this year.

The second problem is fake alcohol: there have been numerous cases of underground factories making cheap vodka or whisky and attaching fake labels to the bottles.

In Irkutsk, both problems combined to lethal effect, as dozens died from ingesting a tainted version of something that was in any case not designed as a drink.

The Irkutsk tragedy is an extreme example, but deaths from drinking low-quality alcohol are common. Russia’s consumer watchdog said that during the first nine months of 2016, 9,300 Russians died from alcohol poisoning. Of these, 1,200 had died from methanol poisoning, the watchdog said.

Vladimir Putin orders clampdown on "surrogate" alcohol as deaths rise

MH17: Vladimir Putin "must come to feel pain" of sanctions

The Prime Minister insisted that direct military action involving British forces was not on the table but called on European Union leaders to make their influence felt.

In an post launched on Saturday, Mr Cameron said: “If president Putin does not adjust his technique on Ukraine, then Europe and the west need to fundamentally modify our technique to Russia.

“This is not about military action, plainly. But it is time to make our electrical power, influence and assets count.

“We have to establish the full details of what happened. But the growing weight of proof points to a clear conclusion: that MH17 was blown out of the sky by a surface-to-air missile fired from a rebel-held area.

“If it is the situation, then we have to be clear what it indicates: this is a direct end result of Russia destabilising a sovereign state, violating its territorial integrity, backing thuggish militias, and education and arming them.

“We should flip this moment of outrage into a second of action.”

That action should go wider than just bringing people responsible to justice, he mentioned, incorporating: “If president Putin does not adjust his approach on Ukraine, then Europe and the West have to fundamentally adjust our strategy to Russia.

“This is not about military action, plainly. But it is time to make our power, influence and assets count.

“Our economies are sturdy, and growing in strength. And but we sometimes behave as if we require Russia a lot more than Russia demands us and the access we give to European markets, European capital, our expertise and technological skills.

“We will not seek a romantic relationship of confrontation with Russia. But we need to not shrink from standing up for the concepts that govern carry out in between independent nations in Europe, and which in the long run preserve the peace on our continent.”

His intervention comes as European Union foreign ministers prepare to meet this week to discuss the crisis.

Britain is drawing up strategies to use the summit on Tuesday to push for tougher sanctions and sources recommended that if an agreement is reached, Russia could be hit with a lot more punitive measures within days.

A senior British government source stated “attitudes to sanctions are hardening”.

The Prime Minister held telephone calls with Tony Abbott, the Prime Minister of Australia, and Mark Rutte, the Dutch Prime Minister. Variety ten stated afterwards that the leaders had agreed contact on the Protection Council of the United Nations to demand that Russia let crash investigators unhindered access to the web site.

Mr Cameron and Mr Rutte “agreed that the EU will need to reconsider its approach to Russia in light of proof that pro-Russian separatists brought down the plane,” the Downing St spokesman said.

Michael Fallon, the new Defence Secretary, accused Putin of sponsoring terrorism and informed the Russian leader to get out of Ukraine.

‘We have to make it really clear if there is any more interference like this – and it turns out he was behind it – there will be repercussions,” he said in an interview.

“It is sponsored terrorism as far as individuals of east Ukraine are concerned. We really don’t know if somebody mentioned, ‘let’s carry down a civil airliner, wherever it is from’, – but we want to uncover out. They need to have to get out of east Ukraine and leave Ukraine to the Ukrainians.”

Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, warned that President Putin that the “world’s eyes are on Russia to make sure she delivers” on her obligations to the victims killed in the Ukraine plane disaster.

After chairing one more meeting of the government’s Cobra emergency committee, Mr Hammond explained the perpetrators of the assault need to be brought to justice and the victims killed in the catastrophe must be dealt with “with proper dignity and respect”.

“We’re not receiving sufficient help from the Russians,” he explained. “We’re not seeing Russia employing their influence successfully sufficient to get the separatists, who are in handle of the web site, to allow the entry that we need to have.”

Meanwhile, in another day of intense diplomacy, international strain built on President Putin to supply greater cooperation and help for the crash investigators.

Angela Merkel urged President Putin to rein in professional-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine on Saturday, as stress grew for EU states to impose sanctions on Moscow in the wake of the MH17 disaster.

Germany’s chancellor and Russia’s president agreed in a cellphone contact that a thorough investigation was required into the Malaysian Airlines plane crash.

John Kerry, the US secretary of state, also spoke to Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, with the pair determining that “urgent measures” had been needed to end the conflict.

Following a phone phone with Mr Putin the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte explained: “He has 1 last likelihood to present he means to aid.”

Russia said it was retaliating towards sanctions imposed by the US final week, just prior to the air disaster, by barring entry to unnamed Americans. It also warned of a “boomerang impact” on US organization.

MH17: Vladimir Putin "must come to feel pain" of sanctions

David Cameron will hold face to face meeting with Vladimir Putin

Diplomatic manoeuvring over the crisis seems to be set to dominate the D-Day anniversary discussions between planet leaders as clashes proceed between the Ukraine government and heavily armed professional-Russia separatists.

Mr Putin will also dine with Francois Hollande at the Elysee Palace on Thursday as relations in between Russia and the Nato allies stay at their lowest considering that the Cold War ended.

The Prime Minister’s Spokesman stated the meeting was an “important opportunity” for Mr Cameron meet with Mr Putin at alongside the D-Day commemorations which the Russian President is also attending.

The meeting would be utilised to send a “clear message” to Mr Putin on the need to have to engage with Ukraine following presidential elections in the nation, he said.

The talks will consider place the day following Mr Cameron, Barack Obama, the US president, and other G7 leaders meet in Brussels for a summit at which Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the on-going hostilities in the east of Ukraine will be substantial on the agenda.

The meeting was hastily arranged following they made a decision to boycott a planned summit of the G8 – which consists of Russia – that Mr Putin was due to host in Sochi this week.

The Prime Minister’s Spokesman extra that Mr Cameron will “set out the significance of a dialogue amongst the Russian government and the new Ukrainian government following the presidential elections that have happened in the last week or so in Ukraine and it is underlining the relevance that that chance offers in terms of in search of the de-escalation – which has usually been at the heart of the international community’s technique to this.

He added: “I would underline the genuine significance and relevance of the presidential elections that you have seen 8 or 9 days ago in Ukraine with a democratically elected president with a strong mandate, elected in the 1st round with in excess of 50 per cent of the vote, a clear expression of the will of the Ukrainian individuals.

“The value of individuals elections going ahead was of social importance to the United kingdom and other international partners who have pushed on this and spelling out encounter to encounter the relevance of that of the opportunity this delivers, to place it very obviously, that is the correct thing to do.”

David Cameron will hold face to face meeting with Vladimir Putin