Can Russia really ban smoking?

The UK isn’t the only place which has been toying with the idea of introducing a ‘generational’ tobacco ban. Rishi Sunak’s bill that would ban sales to anyone born after 1 January 2009 was taken over by Labour following the election, but now it is Russia that is debating a similar measure.

The Ministry of Health is reportedly close to proposing a ban on the sale of tobacco and other nicotine-containing products to everyone born after 31 December 2009. A draft bill has already been circulated and has been adopted by the New People party, one of the government’s tame pseudo-opposition factions, although it has not yet been reviewed by the executive. The government is, after all, formally committed to reducing smoking, even after an unexpectedly-successful crackdown on smoking in public spaces in 2013-14.

Similarly to what has been happening in the UK, Russia’s Health Ministry is also facing pushback from certain quarters, but with a few extra distinctively Russian wrinkles.