Russia's wave of anti-alcohol legislation could reach the silver screen after a State Duma deputy proposed Wednesday to ban scenes with alcohol from movies.
Drinking alcohol should only be allowed on screen when it is an indispensable part of the script, "for instance, in a film about the fate of an alcoholic," said Nikolai Gerasimenko, first deputy chairman of the State Duma's Health Committee.
Smoking in films is currently regulated in this way.
Gerasimenko believes that there is a "preponderance" of alcohol in Russian television and cinema that negatively affects its youngest viewers, Interfax reported.
"Here children drink from 14 years old, and television plays a big role in that," he said.
The idea has not yet become a bill, Gerasimenko added.
Anti-alcohol legislation has grown substantially in recent years, with alcohol advertising now banned on television, on the radio, in online media and in public spaces.
The Federal Alcohol Market Regulatory Service has now proposed blocking all websites that sell alcohol and equating the online sale of alcohol with that of narcotics, Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported Wednesday.
