Drink, smoke to solve social problems: Russian min

New York, Sep 2: It is so weird that Russia Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin on Wednesday, Sep 1 asked citizens to smoke and drink more, so that it would increase tax revenues for social services.

"If you smoke a pack of cigarettes, that means you are giving more to help solve social problems such as boosting demographics, developing other social services and upholding birth rates," Kudrin was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

"People should understand: Those who drink, those who smoke are doing more to help the state," he said.

Alcohol and cigarette consumption are very high in Russia, where 65 per cent of men smoke and the average Russian consumes 18 liters of alcoholic liquid per year, according to The New York Post.

It is indicated that alcohol consumption will lead to an impact of short life and every year 500,000 Russians die due to this negative result.

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