Fear the Reaper. . . ?

Not so much in Russia they don't, according to new research published in the Lancet (subscription required):

More than half of all deaths in Russian 15 to 54-year-olds between 1990 and 2001 were due to excessive drinking, the authors say.

The research did source samples from Tomsk, Barnaul and Biysk. These aren't exactly run-of-the-mill millioniki. So whether the sample is representative of Moscow and St. Petersburg is debatable. What is self-evident however, is that the country as a whole has a ethanol/ methanol consumption habit that is doing the labour pool no favours.

Russia has some of the worst demographic refreshment and life expectancy rates outside of the true first-world. Perhaps this is one reason why.

There's a précis of this research here.