President Vladimir Putin has urged Russia’s health and finance ministries to devise a scheme for channeling a portion of tobacco excise revenue to the health-care sector, according to a story in Russia Beyond The Headlines quoting an Interfax report.
The idea was said to have been proposed by Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova and the Astrakhan regional governor, Alexander Zhilkin, at a meeting of the State Council presidium.
“This is something to be discussed with the Finance Ministry,” said Putin. “You know how the Finance Ministry looks at this. We have many very important things to do here in Russia. Channeling taxes to some specific goal would be a very unusual thing to do. This is done in some countries, but not too often.”
Skvortsova said the funding would be extremely useful for the health services, which were provided without charge.