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RUSSIA - In a familiar scene of Russian daily life, Ivan Alexandrov smoked a cigarette outside a Moscow metro station as other commuters stepped out of the heavy doors and immediately lit up.
But under a draft law already passed by parliament banning smoking in public places, from next year such scenes will be a thing of the past in Russia.
If the law is passed by the upper house and then signed by President Vladimir Putin, Russia will from 2014 have European-style bans on smoking in restaurants and bars as well as long-distance trains.
The ban will even apply outdoors in a radius of 15 metres (yards) around metro stations, a tough prospect in a country where 40 per cent of the adult population is believed to smoke.
"Our lawmakers forget that smokers also have certain rights and they also forget the main thing, that we smokers, at least in this country, are still 40 per cent," said Alexandrov, a lawyer, smoking with a cup of takeaway coffee.
"I think it's a violation of our rights. Why are we protecting the rights of gay people or ethnic minorities (but not smokers)? We're not a minority, we are around the same number as non-smokers."
The new legislation would be a major jolt for smokers who until now have enjoyed a virtual free pass.
Smokers often dine in the nicest sections of restaurants and cafes and smoke-free bars are virtually unknown.
The more radical aspects of the legislation follow European precedents but go further than current public opinion in Russia.
A November opinion poll by the Levada independent polling agency found that only 17 per cent of respondents backed a complete smoking ban in restaurants, while 73 per cent backed non-smoking zones.
As temperatures hovered above zero, a few lit up on the historic Arbat pedestrianised street packed with souvenir stalls, cafes and restaurants, but most preferred to smoke inside.
"In winter it's very cold. You can go outside on the street but it's bad in the winter," said student Darya Grun, 17, smoking as she waited for a friend on the street in a down jacket.
She argued a ban would also be ineffective in Russia, pointing at failed initiatives to stop people drinking bottled beer outside, for example, and questioning how it would be enforced.
"It's Russia. Even if they ban it, people will do whatever they want. It will be ineffective. That's people's mentality."
Some smokers welcomed the reform, such as 19-year-old student Yevgeny Myskin.
"I think it's a good idea to ban smoking in public places... it's easier to go outside than sit and annoy the other people around you. I also think smoking around children is just low," he said.
Russia's health ministry puts the number of smokers at 43.9 million out of the country's 143 million population, around 40 per cent of the adult population.
Almost 400,000 Russians die each year due to smoking-related illnesses, it says.
Russia has already introduced large-type warnings of health consequences on cigarette packs and plans to add graphic photographs of diseased body parts and dying people.
Cigarettes currently cost around 40 to 60 rubles (S$1.60 to S$2.50) per pack.
Under the proposed legislation, smokers could face the first restrictions on their habit this summer -- bans on smoking in schools and hospitals, which until now, surprisingly, have not had blanket bans.
Opinion at this early stage appears divided over what impact the law will have, in a country where police officers themselves can often be seen smoking in uniform.
Igor Bukharov, president of the Russian hotelier and restaurateur federation, told Kommersant FM radio that in reality smokers would still feel free to light up if they felt there were only smokers around.
But Dmitry Yanin, president of the Russian consumer goods federation, told Moskovsky Komsomolets daily that the law would reduce the number of smokers by a quarter by 2014.
Vladimir Strokin, who has created a website to campaign for smokers' rights, Nicotin.ru, said Russians would never respect what he called an unfair law because "Russians perceive laws not with their heads but with their hearts."
"It's like curing a headache with a guillotine," he added.