No smoking in cafés and restaurants in Russia from today June 1
Moscow: Smoking is prohibited in hotels, marketplaces, long distance trains, train stations, ships, cafés and restaurants across the Russia from June 1, 2014.
From now on, smoking areas will cease to exist in hotels, café, restaurants and any place providing edibles across Russia, with special rooms for tobacco lovers also forbidden.
Café and restaurant owners must remove all ashtrays and hang warning signs which inform customers that smoking is prohibited inside the establishment.
A violation of the ban will result in significant fines – which must be paid by both the smoker and the owner of the establishment.
An individual owner will be forced to part with 30,000-40,000 rubles (around US$870-1,150) if one of his customers is caught puffing a cigarette. Meanwhile, a chain-run corporate business must pay a larger penalty of 60,000-90,000 rubles (around $1,700-2,600) for the same crime.
