Famed for their hard drinking, Russians are facing the country's worst alcohol shortage in 20 years.

Not since Mikhail Gorbachev tried to crack down on alcoholism by curbing vodka sales has there been such a crisis. This time the drought is the result of a bureaucratic bungle. The aim was to stamp out bootleg alcohol, which can poison or even kill, but anti-counterfeiting measures have had unforeseen effects.

1 July, a day that has come to be known as 'Black Saturday', was the deadline for introducing new barcoded excise labels for all imported alcohol, and for including them in a new electronic tracking system. But nobody, from the customs service to alcohol producers and off-licences, appears to have been prepared.

Most retailers were not issued with the new excise labels. The result was they had to sell off all their imported booze at bargain prices before the end of June, or simply send it back to the warehouse. Apart from vodka, almost all wines and spirits that are fit to drink come from outside Russia; the only alternatives are sparkling white wines from the south or cheap local beer.

It could be three months before the authorities get their act together, say insiders, and by then vodka could be hard to find. Production of the spirit slumped by 20% in the first half of this year, and there are long delays in getting supplies to retailers, thanks to the same problem-plagued electronic tracking system.

The only people who are pleased are health officials, who have been battling for years to get Russians to moderate their drinking. Alcoholism is blamed for the country's low life expectancy . . . just 59 for men.