This article investigates into the basic contextual factors and the role of state,
infl uencing the rise of smoking prevalence in Russia. The analysis of state tobacco
policy interventions allows us to reveal the major contextual variables determining the
tobacco epidemic on the national–level: provision of state benefi ts for the international
tobacco investments, low tobacco prices, low tobacco excise tax, aggressive promotion
and advertising of tobacco products enabled by authorities. The mutual impact of
individual and contextual variables on tobacco epidemic in Russia is studied by the
means of multilevel modeling approach.