Russia’s kiosk owners petition Putin over tobacco sales ban plan

Russia’s Coalition of Kiosk Owners (CKO) said yesterday that it would submit a 165,000-signature petition to President Vladimir Putin this week to ask him to halt pending bans on the sales of cigarettes and beer from kiosks, according to a story by Roland Oliphant for The Moscow Times.

A law banning the sale of beer from kiosks has already been passed and now the Health and Social Development Ministry is seeking to ban retail outlets with a floor area of less than 50 square meters from selling tobacco products.

The CKO, formed in April to fight the legislation, claims that such measures would put small businesses out of business while not preventing drinking or smoking.

“Of course, we need to fight smoking,” said CKO leader, Vladen Maximov.

“But this law would strike small business owners without having any impact on smokers.”

“In St.   Petersburg, where by law there are no kiosks, statistics show no discernible impact on rates of smoking,” Maximov added.