- Sources close to the Kremlin say stress of Ukraine war is turning some to drink
- State banquets serve luxury cognac costing more than £6,000 a bottle
- Some Russian admin staff are said to be starting the day with a bottle of vodka
Sources say Russian President Vladimir Putin is said to hardly drink any alcohol at all
Vladimir Putin's administration staff 'are starting the day with a bottle of vodka' and former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev is 'often drunk when he writes his apocalyptic threats of nuclear war'.
That's according to the exiled Russian newspaper Verstka, which has spoken to several sources close to the administration.
The newspaper reports that consumption among Putin's closest associates has increased sharply since the invasion of Ukraine.
'Not everyone in the presidential administration started the day with a glass of vodka earlier,' one source told the newspaper. 'Now I know many more who do it, and with some the glass has become a bottle.'
Sources also claim Dmitry Medvedev, currently the deputy head of the country's security council, is drinking excessively.
Two sources claim that Medvedev is often drunk when he writes his vitriolic posts on the messaging service Telegram about 'the atrocities of the West'.
Stress appears to be a major factor in the increased intake of alcohol among those in the Kremlin, according to the newspaper's claims, which were first reported in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.
Before the war, few Kremlin employees started the day with a glass of vodka but now many more do it, with some even starting the day with a bottle of vodka, according to Verstka, which has spoken to sources familiar with the drinking habits of the Russian presidential administration, the Russian government and regional elites.
'Previously, a maximum of one bottle of wine or vodka per person was served at official state banquets,' sources have told the newspaper.
'Since the invasion of Ukraine began, the norm has increased, and now 1.5-two bottles of wine or vodka per person are served at the banquets.'
Among Kremlin employees, alcohol intake in the mornings is also said to have increased.
Medvedev is 'often drunk when he writes his vitriolic posts on the messaging service Telegram'
Verstka reports that several regional governors have greatly increased their alcohol intake since the start of the war.
Despite the West's sanctions against many Russian politicians, expensive types of alcohol are still served at banquets.
These include Louis XIII cognac - which costs more than £2,000 for a 70cl bottle - and the wine Château Margaux, which can cost more than £600 a bottle, according to Danil Novikov at FBK, the non-profit anti-corruption foundation established in 2011 by Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny.
The Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, hardly drinks any alcohol at all, and is said to have a 'very negative attitude' to it, a source close to the Kremlin told Verstka.
The claims surfaced as Medvedev went on yet another unhinged rant about the West.
The former Russian president said today there were no longer any 'moral limits' to stop Moscow from destroying its enemies' undersea cables in a threat the United Kingdom and its allies.
This is because of what what he said was Western complicity in the Nord Stream pipeline blasts last year, that are still officially unexplained.
Medvedev made the threatening comments on his official channel on the Telegram messaging application early on Wednesday, amid fears that Russia could cut off cables connecting Britain to the internet causing widespread blackouts.
Explosions ruptured both Nord Stream 1 and the newly built Nord Stream 2 pipelines, carrying gas from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, last September. Germany had already cancelled the project due to the war in Ukraine.
US media reports have suggested that Washington was aware of a Ukrainian plot to blow up the gas pipelines. Kyiv has denied it destroyed them.
Firebrand Medvedev, who served as Russia's president from 2008 to 2012 while Vladimir Putin temporarily stepped into the role of Prime Minister, has grown increasingly hawkish in recent years - and particularly since Putin invaded Ukraine.
One of Putin's closes allies, he has previously threatened the UK, saying at the end of May that British officials are now legitimate targets for Russia.
This came after the UK’s foreign secretary James Cleverly said targets inside Russia's borders were legitimate targets for Ukraine to attack.
In January, he said that a Russian loss in Ukraine 'could provoke a nuclear war' in a threat to the UK over its supply of weapons to Kyiv and its forces.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12193309/Putins-administration-staff-starting-day-bottle-vodka.html
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