It’s a justification commonly heard during the Great Fast: “What? Beer? Why, that’s just liquid bread!” This is followed by a few chuckles — maybe a judgmental glance at the speaker’s bread belly.

But beer’s status as “daily bread” may be getting an overhaul in Russia …

The beverage is technically classified as a foodstuff for now, an anomaly that has allowed producers to avoid a sweeping new crackdown on alcohol advertising and night-time sales.

But a new Kremlin-backed bill that passed its first reading in the lower house of the Russian parliament on Tuesday will abolish beer’s special status, dragging Russian alcohol regulation into the 21st century.

“Normalising the beer production market and classifying it as alcohol is totally …

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