The anti-alcohol campaign started by then President Dmitry Medvedev in 2009 continues to bear fruit, the Russian Public Opinion Study Center told Interfax on Monday.

The number of Russians consuming alcohol several times a week is down from 8% in July 2009 to 5% in November 2012, while the number of people drinking alcohol several times per month is down from 41% to 33%, the sociologists said.

The percentage of Russians who claim to be non-drinkers is up, from 24% to 33%, in the reporting period.

Alcoholic beverages are mostly consumed by men (77%), people in big cities (70%) and respondents ages 24 to 44 (74%-76%). Most of the non-drinkers are women (44%) and pensioners (58%).

Respondents said they had witnessed violations of alcohol distribution and consumption laws over the past month. Sixty percent reported drinking of alcohol in public, 41% said alcohol was sold in public places and 34% reported alcohol selling in places close to children's facilities. Thirty-one percent witnessed alcohol selling to minors, 29% saw alcohol commercials on TV, the radio and at movie theaters, and 27% reported alcohol selling at mobile outlets. Twenty-three percent said alcohol was sold in the night hours (from 11:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m.) and 19% reported alcohol advertisements in audio, video and printed editions for minors.

The center polled 1,600 people in 138 towns and cities in 46 regions on November 17-18.

According to the Social Networks Agency survey, 54% of 516 comments on alcohol restrictions were negative and only 11% supported the government's measures, the sociologists said.

The agency conducted the survey on November 1-12 with the use of public search engines (Blogs.Yandex.ru, Blogsearch.Google.ru) and its own search engine. In all, 516 posts related to alcohol were found.