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Russia set to ban occult advertsing

© www.timeout.comRussia set to ban occult advertsing
Russia set to ban occult advertsing - Sputnik International
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Russian lawmakers on Tuesday gave their backing to a bill that would ban advertisements by witches, sorcerers and psychic healers.

 

Russian lawmakers on Tuesday gave their backing to a bill that would ban advertisements by witches, sorcerers and psychic healers.

The bill was passed by the lower house of parliament in an initial reading.

Russian newspapers are full of adverts for all manner of urban witches and wizards, and an Internet search for Magicheskie Uslugi (Magical Services) brings up a vast number of websites offering to satisfy every conceivable human desire - for a price.

Tatyana Yakovleva, a co-author of the bill and a United Russia deputy, said some 300,000 Russians used occult and paranormal services every year. She said the business was worth around $2 billion annually.

A survey carried out by the Levada independent polling agency in August discovered that one fifth of Russians have made use of such services.

However, the law would still allow licensed healers to stay in business.

Since 2008, the Federal Scientific Clinical Center for Traditional Methods of Diagnostics and Healing has been issuing permits to practitioners of what it calls “traditional medicine” - an extremely broad definition that includes both folk medicine and psychic healers.

The late 1980s saw an explosion of belief in the paranormal and the occult in the Soviet Union, with psychic healers Anatoly Kashpirovsky and Allan Chumak drawing audiences of millions.

MOSCOW, October 5 (RIA Novosti)

 

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