The Russian Health Ministry is promoting a harsh anti-tobacco draft, stipulating a ban on smoking in public transportation, cafes and night clubs.

Cigarettes will be prohibited to be sold in shops, which is less than 50 square meters - in stalls mainly. In bigger shops cigarets won't be laid out on open access, and buyers will have to choose it using a special price list.

The smoking places will also be limited. It is planned to prohibit smoking in long-distance trains, passenger vessels and in the public zones of airports and railway stations, night clubs, cafes and restaurants. A wider information campaign telling people about the harm tobacco inflicts upon the human body is planned too.

      Moreover, the Health Ministry plans to increase the excise share in tobacco prices to 50%, which will three times level up prices for one cigarette pack. A tobacco advertising will be prohibited, and tobacco companies won't be able to be sponsors. It is also planned to prohibit to show smoking in serials and films shooted after passage of the law.

      At the moment the draft is discussed in profile departments. It can be submitted for consideration of the State Duma this autumn. The whole initiative lies within the framework of an overall project aimed to curtail consumption of alcohol and cigarettes in the country within the next few years.

      According to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 43.9 million adults smoke in Russia, this is about 40 percent of the whole nation. More then half (60.2 percent) of Russian men are smokers. The average Russian smoker has 17 cigarettes a day. As a result, about 400,000 Russians die annually from tobacco-related diseases. 

Sources: Lenta.ru RIA Novosti