After losing billions, Russian drinks alcohol for starters (7)
I believe the answer is:
origins
'for starters' is the definition.
(an origin is a start or beginning)
'after losing billions russian drinks alcohol' is the wordplay.
'after losing' is a deletion indicator.
'billions' becomes 'b' (abbreviation).
'russian' becomes 'Boris' (common Russian name).
'drinks' is an insertion indicator.
'alcohol' becomes 'gin' (gin is an alcoholic spirit).
'boris' going around 'gin' is 'borigins'.
'borigins' with 'b' taken out is 'ORIGINS'.
(Other definitions for origins that I've seen before include "So I grin (anag.)" , "Parentage" , "'Beginnings, starting points (7)'" , "Where things begin" , "Roots" .)