Paul Goble
Staunton, Jan 8 – Since Vladimir Putin began his expanded invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russians have been drinking more and committing both more murders and more violence against those living in their households, Russian government statistics shnstow and the relationship between alcohol consumption and violence confirmed by scholars.
The data on alcohol consumption, including illegal alcohol, in Russia can be found at fsrar.gov.ru/statisticheskaja_informacija/svedia_ob_obyme_i_dole_roznuchnuh_prodag_po_egais; and both information on crimes and their relationship to war and alcohol consumption is at idelreal.org/a/chto-ozhidaet-rossiyu-v-2024-godu-rost-nasiliya-i-potrebleniya-alkogolya-/32752565.html.
What is especially disturbing is that the increase in alcohol consumption and violence is not limited to those with direct experience on the battlefront but is occurring across all of Russian society, the result of what researchers say is the promotion by the authorities of “military masculinity” which celebrates those who use their power against others.
Such uncritical celebration of those who use power rather than other means to achieve their ends removes some of the most powerful social constraints on people not to abuse or even kill others and thus makes it likely that they will do so and in increasing numbers as the war goes on.
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