Tobacco-loving Russia nears public smoking ban

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Russia’s upper house of parliament approved a bill on Wednesday to restrict smoking in public places in one of the world’s heaviest smoking nations.

The bill bans lighting up on public transport and at the workplace, and also the sale of tobacco in health, sports and cultural centers or near schools.

Senators in the Federation Council upper house voted 90-19 in favor of the bill, which will become law if it is signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, a keen sportsman known for his healthy lifestyle.

There had been doubts over whether the upper house would approve the bill, adopted unanimously in the lower house, after it blocked a similar bill restricting beer sales and consumption on the streets earlier this month.

The bills are aimed at improving the health of Russians, whose life expectancy is far lower than people in Western countries.

The World Health Organization ranks Russia as the world’s fourth highest smoking country, consuming 258 billion cigarettes in 1998. At least 60 percent of men over the age of 15 smoke.

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