Sigh. It's not just Russia. A Romanian friend of mine was regularly beaten on by her asshole husband. She was absolutely shocked to find out when she came to the states that she could actually call the cops on him for doing this. (Did she ever? No? But she did leave him.)
In Romania it's just considered a man's right to beat up on his woman. I'll say one thing about the fucking assholes who beat up women; they always pick small ones. Every single girlfriend I've ever had that was abused by her husband or boyfriend was under 5.'5". So not only are these men bullies, they're fucking cowards. At least, this is the conclusion I'm drawing from the fact that I'm 5'9" and never been touched.
Joanna