During this time, Russia was deep into a financial crisis and more than 8,000 teachers from the Mayminsky District in the Altai Republic had not received their salaries for months because local budgets were exhausted. Facing mounting pressure from unpaid workers and no immediate funds, officials offered teachers 15 bottles of vodka each as part payment for their overdue wages, on the logic that the bottles could be sold or bartered for food and essentials in local markets. The teachers accepted this because they had been repeatedly offered other non-monetary substitutes such as vegetables, toilet paper, or even coffins, which they rejected, and vodka was seen as the most liquid commodity that could be exchanged for money or goods.