Russia aiming to cut number of smokers by 15% by 2050

Russia is aiming to cut the number of smokers in the country by up to 15 percent by 2050, "huge ambitions considering 40 percent of Russians light up," VOA News reports.

Sophia Malyavina, who is with the country's Ministry of Health, said the government would like to implement a ban on smoking in public places by 2015 and possibly raise cigarette taxes, according to VOA News. "[T]he government has also banned cigarette ads on television and has introduced warning labels on cigarette packages that read 'Smoking Kills,' and that smoking can cause heart attacks, strokes, death and impotence, among other things," the news service writes (Golloher, 7/25).