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Smoking Ban Spreads to Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport

The Khimki City Court has given the transport hub one month to close designated smoking areas inside the building.

Smokers flying through Russia are about to have their nicotine-free period extended after a Moscow court ordered the city's Sheremetyevo Airport to dismantle its smoking rooms in light of a public smoking ban that came into effect last weekend.

An investigation by the Transport Prosecutor's Office found that terminals D and E of Sheremetyevo Airport were in violation of a law that bans smoking in public areas — including hotels, restaurants and trains — the General Prosecutor's Office said Tuesday in an online statement.

The Khimki City Court has given the transport hub one month to close designated smoking areas inside the building, adding the ruling had not yet gone into force, the statement said.

Sheremetyevo is the busiest international airport in Russia, with more than 29 million passengers passing through the hub in 2013.

The recent ruling brings Russia's main airport in line with terminals in other countries with public smoking bans, such as London's Heathrow, where smoking inside the building is also banned.

See also:

Despite Restaurant-Industry Opposition, Moscow Goes Smoke-Free

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