Witches banned from taking out ads

Russian legislators have backed a bill banning the country's faith healers, witches and assorted sorcerers from advertising their services.

Faith healers and the like cause "moral and physical harm to the people and economic harm to the country", wrote legislators proposing the bill, which was passed in an initial reading.

Russians often turn to folk healers and fortune-tellers to solve problems and tabloid newspapers fill pages with ads for "psychics", who promise to return cheating husbands, cure alcoholism and bring business success.

Advertising of esoteric services in the mass media means that "charlatans attract a lot of clients without giving any guarantees, and sometimes engage in fraud", the bill's authors said.

Esoteric healers outnumber doctors in Russia, and the annual turnover of the business is close to $US2 billion ($A2.07 billion), said Duma deputy Tatyana Yakovleva.