Top Russian official calls for "ethical code" to cut drinking at state-owned arms producers

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets has called on state-owned arms producers to introduce an ethics code in order to battle alcohol abuse in the workplace.

Golodets, speaking to human resources directors of major state-owned companies on Tuesday, lamented "a propensity for alcohol abuse". Golodets said "the lack of discipline" comes with a "high price not only for the factories but for the humankind as such."

She also called on factory directors to show an example to their employees and cut down on drinking at office parties.

A report compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development earlier this year showed that 30 percent of deaths in Russia in 2012 were attributable to alcohol, the highest ratio among the nations it tracked.