Vodka which has been the instant ultimate remedy for Russians to forget their troubles, is currently celebrating 500 years since it was first distilled by the Kremlin monks under the Tsars in 1503, for use as an antiseptic, before they started drinking it themselves.Much water has flowed down the Volga and Moskva since then and it has now become an inalienable part of Russian life so much so that common Russians don’t think of life without vodka, be it a wedding ceremony, a child’s birthday or a funeral. Not only within Russia, today vodka is drunk around the world.Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev took a deliberate policy decision to sell cheap vodka for Russians to forget the drudgery of daily life, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev unsuccessfully banned it, his successor Russian President Boris Yeltsin became scandalously famous for his vodka-drinking, while current President Vladimir Putin prefers green tea.Moscow’s powerful mayor and a close ally of Putin, Yury Luzhkov, has even promised to open a vodka museum near Moscow’s Kristall Distillery, during the celebrations. ‘‘Russian vodka is acclaimed throughout the world and the public must celebrate the jubilee, at least in respect of culture,’’ Luzhkov said at a press conference earlier.
