Where would he be without his vodka-martini?

Ever since then the ministry has tried to recover them, claiming the company which had sold the rights to SPI was not the legal owner of the brands.

SPI says that in the time of the deal there was no doubt over who had taken ownership of the brands from the USSR government.

The Ministry disputes the legality of the sale and the price paid.

The government has valued the rights to use the most well-known brands - Stolichnaya and Moskovskaya - at $400m.

The decision might bring some joy to President Vladimir Putin, who has set up a special committee to return some well-known brands to the state.

But while the court deliberated, SPI continued to sell vodka in Russia and abroad, and it is still unclear how the brand names can now be used.

Tough business

In a heavy drinking country producing vodka is a bonanza

Russia's liquor industry was privatised and mostly deregulated in the early 1990s.

In a heavy drinking country like Russia, vodka is big business and a dangerous one.

The industry is considered as one of the most criminalized, with a history of dozens of contract killings and criminal cases.

Cheap, poor filtered and fake vodka has caused headaches for the state, producers and drinkers.

The outcome might yet leave the Russian government a little shaken or stirred.