Health | Russia Russia Gets Tough New Smoking Law No more lighting up in bars, offices, playgrounds By Rob Quinn Posted Feb 25, 2013 2:30 AM CST Copied Women smoke cigarettes at a shopping center in Moscow. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze) Life is about to get tougher for smokers in a country with one of the world's highest rates of tobacco use. Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed tough new anti-smoking measures into law, banning smoking in workplaces, restaurants, long-distance trains, and other public places like beaches and playgrounds, the BBC reports. The anti-smoking bill—which sailed through parliament despite stiff opposition from the country's powerful tobacco industry—sets a minimum retail price for cigarettes and introduces new restrictions on advertising. The move comes as part of a push to improve public health that has already seen beer reclassified as an alcoholic drink instead of a food. Read These Next It's Tesla's 'first real commercial flop.' Trump's new beef with Time magazine is over a photo of him. The woman seen in a disturbing doorbell video is OK. Mitt Romney's sister-in-law has been found dead. Report an error