Dry to the law: four ministries supported an experiment on online wine sales
The remote sale of Russian wine has again sparked a discussion in the government, Izvestia has learned. The Ministry of Health opposed the experiment, while the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Finance, according to sources familiar with the discussion, supported it. Supporters of the initiative believe that it will give small Russian wineries an additional sales channel, and the Russian Post an opportunity to expand its commercial activities against the background of a high debt burden and declining revenues from traditional postal services. The Ministry of Health fears that the experiment will increase the availability of alcohol for Russians. Whether the new sales channel will be able to support winemakers at the same time and not lead to an increase in alcohol consumption is discussed in the Izvestia article.
Why the online sale of wine has again become the subject of controversy in the Cabinet
The Ministry of Health opposes the experiment on the remote sale of Russian wine through the specialized website of the Russian Post and asks Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova to support the position of the department. This follows from a July letter from the Minister of Health Mikhail Murashko to the deputy chairman of the government, which was reviewed by Izvestia. The authenticity of the document was confirmed by a federal official and a source familiar with the discussion. The appeal was prepared pursuant to the resolution of President Vladimir Putin dated May 22, 2026 on the consideration of the possibility of conducting such a pilot. A representative of the Ministry of Health did not respond to a request from Izvestia, and the office of the Deputy Prime Minister refrained from commenting.
In the letter, Mikhail Murashko points out that expanding the availability of alcohol contradicts the government's policy of reducing alcohol consumption and may jeopardize the results achieved. In June 2026, consumption, according to the ministry, amounted to 7.62 liters of ethanol per person, compared to 9.1 liters in 2019. The target for 2030 is 7.8 liters per person.
The minister also points out the risk of ordering large quantities of alcohol and increasing one-time consumption, receiving alcohol after 22:00 through posters, as well as circumventing age restrictions using accounts of parents or other adults. According to the agency, couriers and postamates do not provide reliable age verification. Currently, the remote sale of alcohol in Russia is prohibited by Law No. 171-FZ.
There is no consensus in the government about the experiment yet, a federal official said. According to him, the positions of the ministries are part of the interdepartmental discussion. Since the issue is being considered at the presidential level, the final decision will be made there, a source familiar with the details of the discussion added.
On August 6, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Sazanov publicly confirmed that the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Industry and Trade are discussing the possibility of remote alcohol sales. Nevertheless, according to a federal official and a source familiar with the discussion, these agencies, as well as the Ministry of Finance, have already supported the initiative. It will create new mechanisms for more active promotion of wines from small wineries, a representative of the Ministry of Agriculture told Izvestia. According to him, this will make such products more competitive and increase consumer awareness of Russian wine, its history and traditions.
At the same time, the measure itself is considered as one of the ways to support the Russian Post, a source familiar with the discussions said. The company's financial situation remains difficult: its net debt in 2025 amounted to 107.8 billion rubles, an increase of 29%, and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, and depreciation) — 3.8 billion rubles, which is 27% less than in 2024.
In June 2026, the State Duma adopted in the first reading a bill to support the Russian Post. In particular, it provides for flexible office hours and the possibility of expanding commercial activities. In March, the Ministry of Finance also ordered marketplaces to open pick-up points at post offices.
The relevance of the experiment and possible mechanisms for its implementation are currently being discussed with market participants, a representative of Russian Post said, without revealing other details.
Izvestia sent inquiries to the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Development, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Why have plans to launch online wine sales resumed?
The discussion on alcohol legalization resumed in May 2026. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev suggested that the president return to the draft laws on the online sale of Russian wine and expand the model by allowing the participation of marketplaces. The project also considered digital age verification using a Single biometric system and the Maks messenger, Kommersant reported.
The Cabinet of Ministers submitted the previous version of the experiment to the State Duma in 2023. It provided for the sale of Russian wine through the Russian Post website, with receipt of the order no earlier than a day later and mandatory age verification. The bills have not reached the first reading.
The legalization of online wine sales opens up an additional sales channel and communication with consumers, said a representative of Kuban-Vino. It will make it possible to present the full range, including exclusive and premium lines that are not available today in federal retail chains, the representative of the Phanagoria wine house agrees. It will also increase margins and turnover, primarily for small wine companies, added Alexander Stavtsev, Vice President of the Russian Association of Retail Market Experts and head of the WineRetail information Center. Today, small winemakers and winegrowers account for about 6% of the total market, and their share in sales is small, said a representative of the Tempelhof winery. According to him, it is small companies that are interested in developing an online channel, as they are currently unable to work with online retail.
The expansion of direct channels can reduce the final price of wine by reducing the number of intermediaries, said Alexander Stavtsev. According to his estimates, a bottle of farm wine worth 600-800 rubles from a manufacturer in a store can be sold for about 2.5 thousand rubles, whereas with direct delivery the price could drop to about 1.5 thousand.
There should be a variety of trade formats, but not with excisable goods such as alcohol and tobacco, the chairman of the Association of Omnichannel Retail Companies (ACORT) objects Stanislav Bogdanov. Their regulation requires licensing, traceability, control of turnover and storage, fixing the time and place of sale of products, he listed. According to him, it is difficult to meet these requirements in remote trading today. Igor Alyoshin, head of Rosalokoltabakkontrol (RATK), also spoke about the concerns of effective control over alcohol trafficking online at the SPIEF. The representative of the RATK did not comment on the position of the department to Izvestia, noting that in the first six months of 2026, the service blocked more than 21 thousand sites selling alcohol on the Internet — 50% more than in the same period of 2025.
However, winemakers also have questions about choosing Russian Post as the sole operator: some small producers are located in villages where their infrastructure may not be sufficient for such a model, according to a Tempelhof representative. As part of this initiative, he said, it would be worthwhile to involve other large logistics companies, such as SDEK, Ozon and Wildberries.
It is also not worth waiting for an increase in consumption against this background, Alexander Stavtsev is sure. Even in developed markets, online wine sales account for less than 10%, he said. Moreover, the purchase of wine through such a service will not be spontaneous — delivery has been postponed, and the products themselves belong to an expensive segment compared to other alcohol, the expert pointed out.
It is necessary to help Russian winemakers not through a new sales channel, but through existing state support measures, Stanislav Bogdanov believes. These are, for example, preferential financing, support for exhibitions and fairs, vineyard development and other mechanisms, he listed. In the horizon of 7-10 years, the potential for investments in the viticulture and wine industry may reach 400 billion rubles, Denis Konstantinov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Rosselkhoznadzor, predicted in April.
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