Kiosk owners will appeal to President Vladimir Putin to prevent a proposed ban on cigarette sales, the Moscow Times reported.

A ban on selling tobacco products in outlets with less than 50 square metres of floor space has been put forward by the Health and Social Development Ministry, the newspaper reported. Kiosk owners already face a ban on beer sales that will take effect on 1 Jan.
The Coalition of Kiosk Owners has collected more than 165,000 signatures on a petition opposing the beer and tobacco bans that will be sent to the Russian leader, the newspaper reported on its website. The owners coalition estimates the bans could directly and indirectly eliminate up to 1 million jobs, the Moscow Times reported.
Customers will buy the same amounts of the same products elsewhere, association leader Vladen Maximov told the newspaper. "They think we can just adapt and start selling different products, switch to sausages or whatever. They just don't understand the realities of how this business works," Maximov reportedly said. (pi)