Russian parliament votes for public smoking ban

Russia took a step towards clamping down on the tobacco industry on Friday as a bill to ban smoking in public spaces and to restrict tobacco sales sailed through its first reading in parliament.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said that 44 million Russians, nearly one in three, are hooked on smoking, and almost 400,000 die every year of smoking-related causes.

Under the draft legislation tobacco advertising will be outlawed and smoking in public places such as restaurants, bars and hotels will be phased out. It will also ban kiosks and outlets in stations from selling cigarettes, much to the consternation of the kiosk owners who say they could be put out of business.

Deputies in the Russian Duma, the country's lower house of parliament, voted overwhelmingly in favor of the bill at its first reading, with 429 votes in favor and two abstentions.

Deputy Health Minister Sergei Velmyaikin said in the Duma that the purpose of the bill was not to reduce the number of smokers, but to prevent that number growing.

Foreign tobacco firms, including British American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco, Japan Tobacco, and Philip Morris, control more than 90 percent of Russian sales and have been lobbying to soften the proposed legislation.

Russia is the largest tobacco market after China. The cigarette market was estimated at be worth around $22 billion in 2011 by Euromonitor International.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced that the government will begin considering a new bill to help the country cut back on its heavy smoking habit. It would include a ban on smoking in public areas by 2015, a clampdown on tobacco advertising and new excise taxes to raise the price of an average pack.

Medvedev, who does not smoke, alerted viewers to the potential benefits of the legislation in a video-blogged address.

"Higher excises on cigarettes will give a possibility to get additional money for the budget of health care, as well as for aid programs for those who want to give up smoking and for social advertising of a healthy lifestyle," he said, according to Russian news agency Itar-Tass.

The real challenge is a cultural one. In Russia, cigarettes have been easy to get and widely tolerated for decades - by now, they’re a fixture.

The average price per pack is less than US$2. Smoking is allowed both outdoors and inside - even in children’s environments, public transport and health care facilities. What few restrictions do exist are poorly enforced. For instance, the legal cigarette purchasing age is 18, but minors often buy packs and smoke cigarettes in public.

As a result, Russia is the second-largest tobacco market on Earth, after China. Medvedev said that 44 million citizens are hooked on smoking, and his estimation is in line with statistics from the World Health Organization. About 40 percent of Russians smoke, and one-third of the entire population lights up on a daily basis.