The ever health conscious Vladimir Putin has signed a tough new anti-smoking bill into law.  The Russian president is gradually turning the Motherland into a "No Smoking" zone, forbidding puffing away in most public places.

An estimated 40 percent of Russians are cigarette smokers, with the number more than doubling since the fall of the Soviet Union, especially among women.  And that's been a public health disaster.

Well, no more. Putin’s new law makes it illegal to smoke in entrances to stations, airports, metro stations and ports; in workplaces; in entrances to apartment blocks; and in children's playgrounds and on beaches.

And that’s just the warm-up period.

On 1 June 2014, Russia’s no-smoking areas expand to long-distance trains and ships; in hotels; in restaurants, bars, cafes, shops and markets; and on suburban railway platforms.

The new law mostly conforms to recommendations in a World Health Organization report on Russia’s tobacco problem.