‘Smoker riots’ possible as cigarette prices rise again

The Moscow Times has said that trouble could be brewing over the price of cigarettes in Russia.

A story by Alexey Eremenko said the government was struggling to explain the economic downturn as the country ambled toward recession.

So far, the authorities had been inclined to blame external factors, an approach that was clearly working since President Vladimir Putin’s approval ratings were ‘comfortably above 80 percent’.

But as the economy nosedived, the public mood threatened to plunge right alongside it. And some of the Kremlin’s more questionable economic moves might come back to haunt the people who had made them happen.

At the end of his piece, which was largely devoted to matters other than tobacco, Eremenko said that the State Duma last week had approved a new increase in tobacco excise tax, the second in two years.

Quoting a Kommersant newspaper story, he said that cigarettes consumed by 80 percent of smokers in Russia would become about 10 rubles ($0.20) more expensive per pack.

‘While modest, the hike may prove to be the final straw as far as public patience is concerned,’ Eremenko said.

‘In a country where the average salary is 22,000 rubles ($460) and half of the male population is smoking, “smoker riots” are undesirable but possible.’