ST. PETERSBURG, October 26 (Itar-Tass) —— St. Petersburg lawmakers have suggested banning hookah smoking in public places in Russia, including cafes and restaurants.
The city’s Legislative Assembly passed the relevant draft federal law and sent it to the State Duma.
The document imposes administrative penalties for hookah smoking and for services to organise such smoking in public places, including public catering places. Violation will be penalised by a fine of 500-1,500 roubles for individuals, 20,000-30,000 for officials, and 100,000-300,000 for legal entities.
Legislative Assembly Chairman Vadim Tyulpanov said, “Some from the hookah is a hundred times more harmful than that from a cigarette.”
He noted that hookah smoking has become popular in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other Russian cities. “At the same time, Turkey and Egypt, where hookah smoking is a common practice, are also fighting this evil,” Tyulpanov said.
In his opinion, this habit “harms one’s health” and promised to “eradicate this practice in public places”.
The St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly has been debating the question of smoking many times. It sent a similar initiative to the Duma in the spring of this year. It called for a considerable limitation of tobacco smoking, and banned smoking in stairways of multi-apartment houses, and in other public places.