RESEARCH ARTICLE Tobacco control in the Ru

th ac p rk ar ef adults smoking in a country of 142 million [2]. 25 % of among men, but more than doubled from 6.9 % to 15% Lunze and Migliorini BMC Public Health 2013, 13:64 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/13/64in the political arena [6]. Given the immense burden of2077, Boston, MA 02118, USA Full list of author information is available at the end of the articleRussian youth currently smoke [3]. These rates are higher than in any other European country. While tobacco use prevalence among males has been very high in the Russian Federation for the last 50 years, it has increased during the economic transition among women (Figure 1) [2,5]. Since the 2000s, rates have been relatively stable among men, but further increased among females to the current rate of 21.7 % [5]. Studies examining tobacco control policies in Europe have shown that understanding health policies requires analysis of its context, including political, economic, so-cial and cultural influences, as policy contexts determine form and content of a policy and the attention it receive