Russia Anti-Smoking Draft Law Said to Be Submitted to Parliament

Russia submitted an anti-tobacco law to Parliament today as it seeks to curb smoking amid opposition from cigarette makers, a government official said, declining to be identified because the information hasn’t been made public. The government in the world’s second-largest market for cigarette producers after China proposed measures that will outlaw all tobacco advertising and sponsorship as well as kiosk sales immediately, with bans on trade in small retail outlets and smoking in public places taking effect Jan. 1, 2015.

Russia, which has also raised alcohol taxes as part of efforts to improve its citizens’ health, wants the law passed this year as it fights lobbying efforts by tobacco companies, Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets said Oct. 18. Philip Morris International Inc. (PM), British American Tobacco (BATS), Japan Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco (IMT), which control 93 percent of the Russian market, hooked women and children on smoking, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in a video blog Oct. 16., vowing to crack down on the habit.