MOSCOW, March 30 (RAPSI) – Russian courts satisfied more than 114 lawsuits over online sales of alcohol and ordered to close 156 websites and webpages in a five-month period, RIA Novosti reported on Wednesday.

According to the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor), regional branches of the service filed over 250 lawsuits with Russian courts from November 2015 till March 28, 2016 asking to prohibit distribution of information related to illegal sale of alcohol on numerous websites.

Russian legislation prohibits sale of alcohol products via distant purchase, including Internet.

Attention to the counterfeit alcohol problem increased after November incident in Krasnoyarsk when  mass poisoning occurred because of surrogate whiskey bought via the Internet. 47 people were put in local hospitals and 11 people died because of surrogate whiskey consumption.