Not all vodka is Russian

While an orchestra of the world’s tiniest violins will continue to play a lament for the poor old oligarchs, with due appreciation for the fancy footwork they are having to employ to keep their yachts out of the hands of grasping sanction enforcers, the good news for the man in the street is that boycotting Russian goods won’t put too much of a dent in the lifestyle.

The one glaring exception is the dependence of some Western European countries on Russian gas, and the potential impact of the destruction of Ukraine’s agricultural output, but there’s not much in the way of consumer goods that we can’t do without.

One of the brands that did suffer from the wave of ill-feeling towards Russia in the aftermath of the invasion was Stolichnaya, as social media was humming with clips of bar tenders pouring the good stuff down the drain.

This must have been hugely galling for the brand, particularly since it’s not, in fact, Russian at all. There is a state-owned company that produces it in Russia, but everything sold outside Russia is produced in Latvia by a company owned by Yuri Shefler, who has been an outspoken critic of

Russian President Vladimir Putin for 20 years.

The company is planning to emphasise its distance from Russia by rebranding itself as “Stoli”, not to mention donating to a charity that supplies food to Ukrainian refugees and launching a limited-edition vodka to raise funds for humanitarian efforts. Under the circumstances, it seems the right-thinking citizen should shunt a shot or two down the hatch to show support for Stoli’s worthy efforts.