Domestic violence in Russia

In the Russian media and other sources, there are fundamentally different estimates of the number of women killed in domestic conflicts: they range from about 300 (for the last ten years) to 14,000.

On October 30, 2019, during the hearings in the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, with reference to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the following figures were published: in 2018, 253 women were killed in family conflicts, and in general, over the past decade, this figure was about 300 people annually.[7]

The publication of Moskovsky Komsomolets in December 2019 supplemented the overall picture with the data of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for 2016 and 2017. It also provides figures for the first half of 2019: 233 men and 115 women.[8]

According to Rosstat, the number of victims of crimes involving violent actions against a family member in 2017 was (by sex) 25,700 women and 10,400 men.[15]

When considering the data on violent crimes against family members, it is noticeable that until the beginning of 2017 the number of victims was growing, but in 2017 it unexpectedly dropped to 36 thousand (a year earlier it was 65.5 thousand). The decrease took place after the State Duma partially decriminalized beatings in January 2017, after which physical abuse without serious consequences for health during family conflicts became an administrative offense (not criminal)[16] in cases where it is not a relapse.

In 2008 a representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Lt. Gen Mikhail Artamoshkin expressed his concerns over the country's crime rate, that had doubled in a mere five years between 2002 and 2006. He emphasized that also domestic violence had increased so that up to 40 percent of all serious violent crimes were committed within families.

About two-thirds of premeditated murders and grievous bodily harm was done in intimate relations or within families. The violence in one form or another was observed in almost every fourth family. The reasons for domestic crimes were different and included quarrels and scandals, hostile relations on the basis of families' problems, housing and domestic conflicts, which were often of long-lasting character.

As the main causes over the whole population Artamoshkin referred to "low morale" and income problems, while in wealthy families crimes happened also due to jealousy and avarice. High unemployment frustrated people and led to the abuse of alcohol and violence towards women, children and adolescents.

Artamoshkin pointed out that many preventing features in society vanished with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. He stated that the militia officers of districts had started to work with families, in co-operation with child protection officials; and that, as a result of the preventive work, the annual cases of domestic violence had decreased by 25–30 percent. Another factor is the decline in alcohol consumption, with alcohol consumption down 40% since the early 2000s according to the World Health Organization.[17][18]

In a 2003 press release, Amnesty International claimed that, each day, 36,000 women in the Russian Federation were beaten by their husbands or partners.[19]

The situation was exacerbated by the lack of statistical data on violent crimes, which took into account the nature of relationship between the offender and the victim as well as gender breakdown,[20] and by the attitude of law enforcement officers that did not regard such violence as a serious crime, but rather, as a "private matter" between the spouses[21][22] and avoid to "interfere with family scandals".[23]

A 2008 article published in Journal of Interpersonal Violence regarding domestic violence among Russian college students found that "High prevalence rates were found for all types of violence, aggression, and [sexual] coercion. Consistent with previous research, male and female students were about equally likely to be victims and perpetrators of all violent and aggressive actions."[24]

According to figures reported by the western media in 2013, women's deaths due to domestic violence had not been markedly diminished in a decade. BBC reported information from a Russian interior ministry that 600,000 women were physically or verbally abused at home.[26] Yelena Mizulina, a member of the Federation Council, cited much lower figures for 2015, reporting that around 300 women per year died at the hands of husbands or other relatives and accusing feminists of inflating the figures.[27]

A 1997 report published in the Journal of Family Violence, found that among male perpetrators of spousal homicide, 60–75% of offenders had been drinking prior to the incident.[43] A survey conducted by the Scientific Research Institute of the Family, 29% of people responding to the question "Why are children beaten in families with which you are acquainted?" reported that the violence was carried out by drunks and alcoholics.[43]

In a 2004 study of domestic violence in the Central Black Earth Region of Russia, 77% of offenders of violent crime (towards family members) were frequent drinkers – 12% engaged in regular binge drinking (three or four times a month), 30% three times a week or more, and 35% every day or almost every day.[43]

• Khachaturian sisters case
• Crime in Russia

• "Violence Against Women in the Russian Federation, Alternative Report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, 46th session" (PDF). ANNA National Centre for the Prevention of Violence. 6 July 2010. p. 6.

• Russian Federation Archived 2019-02-15 at the Wayback Machine at Stop Violence Against Women
• "The silent nightmare of domestic violence in Russia", article in BBC News, 1 March 2013
• Breaking the taboo: the Moscow women taking a stand against domestic violence, article by Amelia Gentleman in The Guardian, 10 June 2015