On April 8, 2013, deputies of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation conducted an experiment in the Moscow City Duma, trying to prove the need to repeal the legal norm on zero ppm, writes the Kommersant newspaper. In particular, Deputy Chairman of the Duma Committee on Health Protection Oleg Kulikov dropped 20 drops of Valocordin into a glass of water, drank it in one gulp, and then blew into a breathalyzer, which showed an alcohol content of 0.1 milligrams. “This manipulation is funny, but we don’t know what you have dripped there, maybe it’s vodka or alcohol. And then we don’t know how you spent your weekend,” commented Alexander Semennikov, a deputy from United Russia, on the experiment.

During an experiment on the use of Valocordin, the head of the Moscow City Duma, Vladimir Platonov, stated that “experiments on humans are prohibited.” In addition to trying to prove that the readings of a breathalyzer can be influenced by various medications and food products, members of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation also presented to the attention of the Moscow City Duma the conclusion of the Mendeleev Research Institute of Metrology on the need to introduce a standard for blood alcohol content in order to take into account the error of measuring instruments. In addition, the Communists stated that the blood of Assistant Vice-Speaker of the State Duma Alexander Krylov always contains 0.3 ppm of endogenous alcohol.

All the evidence and arguments presented by deputies from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation were accepted with skepticism by United Russia, which mostly advocates maintaining the zero ppm norm. The party’s position boils down to the fact that there is no reliable data on the illegal deprivation of the rights of drivers in whose blood a minimum alcohol content was detected. According to the traffic police, in 2012, 12 percent of drivers were deprived of their licenses for having less than 0.1 milligrams of alcohol in their breath. At the same time, almost no one began to appeal the decisions on deprivation of rights. At the same time, Platonov and Semennikov said that drivers would perceive the abolition of zero ppm as permission to drink before getting behind the wheel.

The Moscow City Duma is currently preparing a response to a bill submitted to the State Duma of Russia establishing the standard for alcohol content in a driver’s blood and exhaled air. This document proposes to return the legislative norm, according to which a driver will not be considered drunk if a liter of his blood contains less than 0.2 grams of alcohol or 0.1 milligrams per liter of exhaled air. In addition, several more bills are being considered by the State Duma, which also involve the abolition of the legal norm on zero ppm. They were introduced by deputies of United Russia, LDPR, A Just Russia and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.

Disputes surrounding the need to abolish or maintain the zero ppm norm in the State Duma are ongoing in connection with the consideration of several bills to significantly tighten the administrative and criminal liability of drunk drivers. The main one is considered to be Irina Yarovaya’s bill, which has already passed the first reading. This document involves depriving drunk drivers of their license for up to three years and a fine of 200 thousand rubles. Drivers who cause the death of two or more people are subject to prison sentences of up to nine years.

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation conducted an experiment with a breathalyzer