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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21474931
Russia is one of the few countries outside the Muslim world that doesn't even have laws against domestic violence.
And for human rights activists this is one of the most pressing issues.
According to Russian law, in private cases it is the claimant's responsibility to prove that she has been abused.
"This violence happens in cycles, becoming more severe with each cycle. At that point many women suffer from battered-person syndrome which means that they will not seek help," explains Marina Pisklakova, founder of Anna, Russia's oldest non-governmental organisation dealing with the issue.
Cases of domestic violence only become criminal cases if the police are able to establish that injuries have been serious or severe - or that death has occurred: "It becomes a criminal case when it's almost too late to respond to domestic violence," Ms Pisklakova says.
Slowly, the public perception of this issue is changing, says Ms Pisklakova: "Twenty years ago, in every chat show which raised this issue, the audience or hosts were asking: 'What's wrong with those women, what have they done to deserve this beating?'"
There has been a change in the mentality, she says: "Now every journalist I talk to asks: 'What do we do to change this?'"
But years of campaigning for a law which would recognise domestic abuse as a specific crime have so far brought no result.
After more than a decade of discussion, the draft law on domestic violence has still not been introduced in parliament. Ms Pisklakova hopes the Duma may start discussing it this year.
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