People in Russia are stocking up on vodka after the government announced tax rises of forty percent on spirits.

The cost of a bottle will rise in two weeks' time to the equivalent of just over two-dollars -- that's half-a-week's wages for many people.

Vodka is Russia's favourite tipple, with the equivalent of twenty-eight bottles consumed every year for every citizen.

The BBC Russian Affairs Analyst says the government is taking a risk in raising the price of Vodka ahead of presidential elections in March.

He says it shows the acting president, Vladimir Putin, is confident enough to take a tough line on drinking.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service