Company statistics indicate that international sales of the two firms are on the rise. According to Weissman, these investments not only increase market presence in the region, but also provide the political influence that goes with being a local employer. Weissman says the U.S. tobacco firms will continue to penetrate the largely unregulated markets of the region, using all the strategies they used in the United States, and including some that were never acceptable such as giving away free samples of cigarettes and sponsoring youth events such as concerts and sporting events. Weissman says the tobacco companies are also using a marketing strategy unique to Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union which is to associate tobacco and smoking with perceived American values such as liberty, freedom, affluence, fashion and sophistication. There is no question that the tobacco companies are playing on that history to try to market tobacco.
Analysts say that Russia is a particularly fertile market.
Overall, Russians smoke so heavily that the nation imports more cigarettes than it produces. WHO data indicates that about 300 billion cigarettes were manufactured or imported into Russia in 1995. U.S. tobacco companies are well aware of the potential profits to be made in Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union. In regards to the proposed settlement, Banzhaf says he has problems with it, largely because it does not limit or restrict U.S. tobacco companies' activities in the rest of the world. Only four percent of the world's smokers are based in the United States.