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• Russian Excise Duty Hikes to Spur Contraband – Business  

The rapid rise in alcohol and tobacco excise duties advocated by Russian presidential economic aide Arkady Dvorkovich is likely to increase the number of fake and surrogate products in Russia, alcohol and tobacco business figures polled by Prime news agency said on Wednesday.

In an interview with RIA Novosti on Wednesday, Dvorkovich called for increased alcohol and tobacco excise duties above the planned level.

Industry figures said, however, that the proposal was inexpedient. . . .

Maksim Korolyov, head of the Russian Tobacco news agency, said the share of fake tobacco on the Russian market was small at present, but this could change if the government failed to harmonize tobacco excise duties with member countries of the Customs Union comprising Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

“We can already see the first signs when Belarusian cigarettes are sold in Russian border regions,” he said, adding that an average filtered cigarette pack cost a minimum of 20 rubles in Russia compared with 3-4 rubles in Belarus.

He was echoed by Anatoly Vereshchagin, Japan Tobacco International's communications director in Russia. “Already today there is a considerable imbalance between tobacco price levels in Russia and the Customs Union countries.”

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Russia to Raise Liquor Tax to 20% by 2015  

• Philip Morris trademark lawsuit dismissed 

The Moscow Commercial Court has dismissed the Philip Morris tobacco company's lawsuit and supported the patent agency's decision to deny the trademark registration of Optima Zolotaya cigarettes.

The Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks ruled that the trademark is confusingly similar to some trademarks previously registered by British American Tobacco-Java.

The agency believes the word "Zolotaya" can be seen as an independent element, which would infringe on the British American Tobacco-Java's trademark rights.

Last March Philip Morris attempted to challenge the agency's decision, claiming that the word "Zolotaya" on a pack of cigarettes is not perceived separately from the word "Optima." However, the Patent Disputes Chamber found these arguments unconvincing.

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Russia may ban cigarette sale at duty-free shops  

4 million pieces of smuggled cigarettes seized at Kulata checkpoint  

Russia to ban smoking indoors  

• Russia to Ban Smoking Indoors  

Russia is due to ban smoking in all enclosed spaces in an effort to stamp out a habit which kills up to 500,000 people every year, the Health Ministry has said.

"All disagreements between ministries over the ban have been resolved," a Health Ministry spokesperson told RIA Novosti.

The bill is still subject to approval by the parliament.

The World Health Organization welcomed the bill, describing it as a "breakthrough" for Russia.

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• VIDEO: ‘Ban on smoking boosts businesses’  

An anti-tobacco activist has revealed to RT the truth behind tobacco companies’ activities and cast doubts on businessmen’s fears that tobacco bans ruin their bars and restaurants.

Russia is soon to sign a document that will bolster its fight against smoking. It took 174 countries four years to finalize the "Protocol Against Illicit Tobacco Trade."

The document, due to be signed in November, seeks to protect the anti-smoking policies of signatory countries against the influence of tobacco producers.

"Russia has among the lowest taxes on tobacco products, and as a result, the highest smoking rates,” Matthew l. Myers, president of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, told RT. “Over 60 per cent of your males smoke. Since 1991, the number of smokers among young girls has more than tripled.”

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Putin Urges Gradually Raising Tobacco, Alcohol Excise Taxes  

Putin Urges Gradually Raising Tobacco, Alcohol Excise Taxes  

• LibDems urge ban on tobacco, booze ads 

Russia’s Liberal-Democratic Party (LDPR) has submitted to the State Duma a bill that would completely outlaw advertising of alcohol and tobacco.

Smoking and alcohol-related mortality in the country has reached the level of a “humanitarian catastrophe,” the MPs stress, according to the LDPR website.

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Research and Markets: NRT Smoking Cessation Aids in Russia  

• Siberia Court Fines Man $20 Mln for Wildfire 

A court in Russia's southeastern Siberian republic of Buryatia has fined a local resident 581 million rubles ($19.6 million) after his discarded cigarette butt started a fire which destroyed two hectares of forest in 2009.

"The court has established that in June 2009 Alexander Malkov, 21, threw a burning cigarette butt into dry grass near Klyuchi village, a Regional Prosecutor General's Office spokesman said.

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• Radio: Programs: Paradoxes of above-ground public transport: Voice of Russia 

Careless smoking can run up a bill of over 581 million rubles. A 23-year old man from the city of Ulan-Ude has been sentenced to pay back the Russian Federation this record sum of money as the court ruled his cigarette butt caused massive forest fires that burned down around 2 hectares of forest in 2009. Legal experts believe he might have been pressured or tricked into admitting guild. On the other hand, the investigators claim he has pleaded guilty of his own accord right away - such a plea does not warrant extensive investigation to actually prove his guilt, Novyze Izvestia reports.

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Patriarch Krill And Russian Orthodox Church Under Attack For Lavish Life Style, Doctoring Photo 

he Russian Orthodox Church apologised on Thursday for doctoring a photograph of Patriarch Kirill to remove what bloggers said was a luxury wristwatch following accusations that he lives a lavish lifestyle. . . .

Bloggers have since then stepped up accusations that Kirill leads an opulent lifestyle that is unbecoming of his status as head of the Church, and pro-opposition media outlets have questioned an alleged role in dealings around duty-free alcohol and tobacco imports in the 1990s.

"If someone unequivocally identifies this watch as a Breguet, I really do not understand how the Patriarch can remain a spiritual authority," wrote a blogger identified only as homo-ineruditus.

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