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Moscow (ANTARA News / Reuters) - A public health officials Friday asked the Russian ban on retail sale of alcohol after 21 o'clock local time as part of a Kremlin-led campaign to crack down hard on alcohol abuse, according to news agency RIA-state property.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had ordered last year's crackdown to curb the abuse of alcohol, and said he was surprised by the official consumption data indicates the average Russian man drinks 18 liters of pure alcohol every year.

Since then, Russia had to triple the customs tax on beer, introducing a minimum price of vodka and consider drastic restrictions on where and when the beer can be sold, and also prohibits sales kiosks roadside.

Gennady Onishchenko, head of Russia's consumer protection agency and state health officials were tnggi, said the proposed ban on alcohol sales after 23 o'clock local time is not sufficient.

"Why start when people were asleep ... We should forbid from 21 o'clock," he said in an interview with RIA quoted as saying.

He also said he supports the replication system in Finland, where alcohol sold only in stores that have special permission. Drinking alcohol all this now in Russia can be 24 hours a day.

The report said tiak whether the proposed time limit on alcohol sales would also be applied to bars and restaurants.

Multinational companies such as Carlsberg, SABMiller, and Anheuser-Busch InBev controlled 95 percent of the domestic beer market, one of the largest in the world.