Russia bans Durex condoms over holes in paperwork

Russia has banned the widely popular Durex condoms over a bureaucratic issue regarding the products' registration, the country's health care watchdog said Thursday.

"They (Durex condoms) are not registered in the proper manner," Russian news agencies quoted Mikhail Murashko, the head of Russia's federal health care watchdog, as saying. "The company must observe the law."

Murashko added that the condoms could be back on the market only if their producer, British household goods firm Reckitt Benckiser fulfils the appropriate registration procedures.

Durex is a leading condom brand on the Russian market and accounts for one quarter of condoms sale in the country, local media has reported.

Murashko said there would be no shortage of condoms in the country because Durex is "only one of the brands" among the more than 60 available in Russia.

Russia has struggled to control sexually transmitted diseases and infections, with the total number of registered HIV cases in the country exceeded one million in late 2015.

The government's HIV/AIDS prevention policy focuses on treatment while neglecting prevention drives such as sex education in schools, with the number of people infected with the virus soaring as a result, experts say.

A public health campaign in Moscow last year urged people to be faithful to their partners, rather than promoting condom use.