Putin ‘tries’ to curb smoking
MOSCOW, Feb 25, (RTRS): Russia will ban smoking in many public places from June under a law central to President Vladimir
Putin’s plans to make citizens healthier, raise life expectancy and help the economy.
Under the law, signed by Putin on Saturday and passed by parliament last week, smoking will gradually be banned at work, in the subway, restaurants, cafes, ships and longdistance trains in a nation with one of the world’s top smoking rates.
The legislation will also restrict cigarette sales and ban advertising and sponsorship of events by tobacco companies.
It was opposed by foreign firms such as British American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco, Japan Tobacco , and Philip Morris, which control more than 90 percent of a Russian cigarette market worth about $20 billion annually.
Filled
Putin’s aim is to force a lifestyle change on millions of Russians in a country where bars and restaurants are often filled with a thick blue haze of smoke.
But in a sign that many will resist, smokers rights’ groups oppose the law and a website has sprung up which, in a nod to Russia’s Communist past, declares: “Smokers of the world unite.”
“I’m categorically against this stupid ban. Smoking is heavily restricted now anyway. No smoking in offices, no smoking in staircases, nowhere,” said Grigory, a 60-year-old businessmen in Moscow who declined to give his second name. “I’ll go out even less now as there’s nowhere to go for us chain-smokers.”
The law will be phased in, with smoking banned in some public places, such as subways and schools from June 1. The ban will be broadened to include restaurants and cafes a year later.
Sales of tobacco products will be forbidden at street kiosks from June 1, 2014, advertising and displaying cigarettes will be restricted, and minimum prices will be set for cigarettes which mostly cost 50 to 60 roubles for a pack of 20 (less than $2).
Reverse
The law is part of Putin’s drive to reverse a population decline that began after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. He hopes it will increase productivity and promote economic growth.
Putin has stepped up these efforts since his return to the presidency in May, mounting a campaign reminiscent of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s attempt to crack down on drinking under his failed “perestroika” reforms of the late 1980s. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said last year almost 400,000 Russians die each year from smoking-related causes. The World Bank says 40 percent of Russians smoke regularly.
World Bank figures show Russia’s population slumped to 141.9 million in 2011 from 148.6 million in 1991, with average life expectancy at 69 years, against 78 in the United States. Failure to expand the workforce would limit economic growth.
Announcing Putin had signed the law, the Kremlin said on Monday it would bring Russia into line with a World Health Organization tobacco control treaty which it ratified in 2008.
Owners of the ubiquitous kiosks, which many convenience shoppers rely on, say many could go out of business, especially as they have already been hit by restriction on alcohol sales.
The All-Russian Smokers’ Rights Movement said the law would not work and called instead for moves to discourage youngsters from starting smoking.
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MOSCOW: Film star Gerard Depardieu, who received a hug and a Russian passport from President Vladimir Putin last month, has announced he wants to make a movie in Chechnya after dining and dancing with the volatile region’s strongarm leader.
Depardieu abandoned his homeland of France to avoid a planned 75-percent tax on millionaires. He moved to Belgium last year but then continued east to Russia, where Putin granted him citizenship. The two men were shown on state television shaking hands and hugging.