Residents of the Leningrad region say that surrogate alcohol had been sold there for years by a man named Nikolai Boytsov. According to locals, he was fined several times for small amounts, and after penalties increased, the trade became less visible, with alcohol reportedly being sold directly from balconies.
Locals recall that almost every building used to have its own informal “buffet” where alcohol could be bought at any hour of the day or night. Now, they say, the trade has quieted down for a while. The dead were estimated by residents to be around 45 to 55 years old.
In one episode described by residents, a husband and wife were found dead in their apartment. The man worked as a truck driver, had returned home, guests later came over, they drank together, and the couple were then discovered without signs of life.
One person interviewed by the outlet Vetor said he had known one of the dead from construction work. According to him, the man had abused alcohol before, and in recent years had been unemployed, surviving on odd jobs and buying the cheapest liquor available.
Residents stress that poisonings had happened before, but never on this scale. While about 45,000 people once lived in Slantsy and the surrounding district, fewer than 35,000 remain now. Many have moved to St. Petersburg, Kingisepp, or Ust-Luga. Industry, they say, has largely disappeared: the area once had four mines employing around 6,500 miners.
In the view of local residents, the current crisis is the result of industrial collapse, lack of jobs, and people losing faith in the possibility of a normal life.
Residents also complain about daily living conditions. They describe weak water pressure and say Governor Alexander Drozdenko had allocated 5 million rubles for hot water infrastructure, but they saw no outcome. One local woman said that elderly people struggle even to wash, while heating bills for a house reach about 7,000 rubles per month.
Locals believe it will be difficult to stop the sale of surrogate alcohol. In their account, those detained had been involved in the trade for 20 to 30 years, and giving it up would mean losing a familiar source of income. For that reason, residents expect the sales could resume after only a short pause.