Inside Russian Women’s Fight For Their Lives
Domestic violence was already an epidemic in Russia—then came last year’s legislation further decriminalizing abuse.
Content warning: descriptions of emotional and physical abuse
When her husband held her over the balcony of their 16th-floor apartment, Natalia Tunikova knew fighting him off was a matter of life or death. Driven by desperation, she grabbed the first thing her hands could find on the kitchen table—a knife. In the process of fending him off, ultimately freeing herself, she stabbed him.
Reflecting on the history of her abuse, Tunikova, a 42-year-old lawyer and mother, said:
“At first he used to just slap me to ‘teach me a lesson.’ Each time it lasted longer. I would shake from the top of my head to my fingertips. I never tried to defend myself, I just froze. I couldn’t even shout. Before each attack, I would see his crazy eyes. Then he’d charge at me and grab my throat. That night I practically said goodbye to life.”
However, even though Tunikova managed to escape from her terrifying ordeal on the balcony, it turned out that she was far from free.
Dmitry, her attacker, called an ambulance, and the paramedics called the police—who proceeded to arrest the…
