For beating children in Russia, the most common sentence is the minimum possible punishment...

For beating children in Russia, the most common sentence is the minimum possible punishment: a 5,000-ruble fine

Most cases involving violence against children in Russia are brought under Article 6.1.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses: battery that does not cause harm to health. This usually includes slaps, belt-whippings, punches, kicks, and strangulation. As a joint study by Verstka and the University of Helsinki showed, judges almost always hand down the minimum punishment for such violence.

In 2021-2025, most cases of violence against children, 82%, ended with a fine of 5,000 rubles. Judges are increasingly choosing the most lenient punishment: in 2021, fines payable to the state were imposed in 63% of child violence cases, and in 2025, in 79%.

A person may be exempted from punishment altogether if a judge decides the case is "insignificant."

"As a result, justice may not only fail to stop violence, but also indirectly reproduce it, since the aggressor receives a signal about the low likelihood of serious consequences," says Yulia Brin, a doctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki.

Read about how Russia punishes violence against children in Verstka's special project on its website (with VPN):

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