In March 2015, the Russian government responded to the European Court's original communication.
The Russian government argues that the prohibition of OST protects the health and life of Russians and their right to the highest attainable physical and mental health. They base this argument on the risk of mortality from OST and the diversion of OST to the illegal market, as well as arguing that OST merely replaces one illegal substance with another, when they advocate complete withdrawal from all narcotic drugs. They argue that in previous cases the ECtHR has left matters of health policy to domestic authorities and health practitioners as they are in the best position to strike a fair balance between the competing interests of the applicants and the community as a whole.