MOSCOW, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- Russia is moving to ban tobacco advertising by 2012 and public smoking by 2015, officials say.
RIA Novosti, quoting the Vedomosti business newspaper, said Prime Minister Vladimir Putin gave his approval to the anti-smoking program Friday.
A pack of Western-brand cigarettes now costs less than $2 in Russia, but taxes would rise tenfold over time under the plan.
Tobacco producers complained that the tax increases would lead to counterfeiting, Vedomosti said.
Tobacco advertising now is only allowed in some print media. Outdoor ads were outlawed in 2007 and TV and radio commercials have been illegal since 1996.
Russia is said to have 43.9 million smokers, or 40 percent of the population. Russians annually spend $13.3 billion on cigarettes and authorities say up to 500,000 people die of smoking-related diseases every year.
