Russians Drinking Themselves to Death

A study published in The Lancet calculates that three million Russians have died because of alcohol since 1987. I'm skeptical of that sort of extrapolation, but the study does indicate that

three quarters of deaths among men and half of deaths among women aged 15-54 were attributable to alcohol abuse. The mortality rate in Russia in this age group was five times higher for men and three times higher for women than in Western Europe...The Russian, British and French researchers said that "excess mortality from liver cancer, throat cancer, liver disease and pancreatic disease is largely or wholly because alcohol caused the disease that caused death".

According to the article, "Consumption has continued to rise sharply." It sounds like the Russian bear has a major alcohol problem.