Smokeless Moscow

From MT:
"Despite Restaurant-Industry Opposition, Moscow Goes Smoke-Free"

Ashtrays were solemnly removed from tables and a prohibition on smoking was announced in Moscow's trendy Noor bar when the clock struck midnight on Sunday, signifying a momentous change for the city's nightlife. With the new package of anti-smoking measures coming into force on June 1, Russia's 44 million-strong army of smokers will be forced to adapt to a new, more marginal status in places where they can be seen in public.  In February 2013, President Vladimir Putin approved legislation that forbade smoking in public places, required graphic warning labels on cigarette packs and banned the advertising of tobacco products. The law has been in force since June 2013, but some of its provisions, including a total ban on smoking in restaurants, trains and hotels, only came into effect on Sunday. According to the World Health Organization, 34 percent of Russian adults were daily smokers in 2012. Restaurant patrons and bar hoppers are often confronted with a heavy veil of cigarette smoke, which permeates their hair, clothes and, of course, their lungs. While Russians have largely hailed the new legislation as a victory, the country's restaurateurs have met their new obligations with irritation. Starting Sunday, an individual restaurant owner will be required to pay a fine of between 30,000 and 40,000 rubles ($860 to $1,150) if a customer is found smoking in his or her premises, while corporate businesses will be forced to part with larger sums ranging from 60,000 to 90,000 rubles ($1,720 to $2,580). 

^ This is another point to add to the open discrimination of smokers around the world. I do not smoke, but also think it is not right to forbid those that do to smoke (especially while the sale of cigarettes is legal.) There are so many new and different ways that public enclosed places can still allow smokers the freedom to smoke in-doors while keeping it away from those that don't and yet for most governments around the world they take the lazy approach and just ban it. ^

   http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/despite-restaurant-industry-opposition-moscow-goes-smoke-free/501247.html