Russian lawmakers are set to introduce a bill to the State Duma on June 23rd proposing a complete ban on both the wholesale and retail sale of all vapes and electronic cigarettes. The initiative, spearheaded by deputies Sergey Mironov and Yana Lantratova, aims to establish significant administrative fines for any violations.
Under the proposed legislation, fines for illegal sales would range from 25,000 to 50,000 rubles for individuals and from 500,000 to 1 million rubles for legal entities. The penalties for selling to minors would be even more severe, with fines of 300,000 to 500,000 rubles for individuals and 1.5 million to 2 million rubles for companies.
Proponents argue that despite existing laws, children still manage to acquire these products. They cite figures indicating that nearly 4 million people in Russia use electronic smoking devices, including a significant number of teenagers, as the primary motivation for the proposed ban.
