Fall of Communism Fails to Alter ‘No Fuss, No Muss’ Divorces in Russia

Of all the plagues that have afflicted Russia in the five years since the breakup of the Soviet Union, there is one Western phenomenon that has not invaded.

In a country where the most common measures of societal health--birth rate, death rate, alcoholism, crime--have worsened, the number of divorces has actually declined. And the nation has yet to see its first divorce lawyer.

As for those who do divorce, the rules and procedures have changed little since Soviet days, when, in the spirit of the atheist state, divorces were relatively easy and cheap, if not painless, and rarely required a lawyer.

These days, to be sure, some people have more property to wrangle over, and the few new rich have vast estates and international holdings--enough to make lucrative cases for an American or Western European divorce lawyer.

Still, even those cases are handled by nonspecialist lawyers. And the vast majority of divorces are handled routinely, without lawyers, in a government administrative office or, if there are children or disputes, in court.

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A morning spent in Judge Lidya Vladimirovna Sorokin’s courtroom (where reporters are welcome, but news photographers aren’t) is instructive.

“Just the usual,” Sorokin says after crisply sweeping six marriages into the dustbin of nuptial history. “Drinking, infidelity, no more love. This is typical.”

Sorokin, a pleasant, round-faced woman whose manner suggests equal quantities of sympathy and sternness, presides over a small, spare courtroom in a haggard courthouse that serves 450,000 people on Moscow’s west side.

Except for the judge herself, not a single lawyer sets foot in the courtroom during the two-hour session of divorce court. The petitioners come in ones and twos to lay bare their stories of love gone bad and beg the court for relief.

There are Anatoly and Alla, a couple in their late 40s with three children and a decent income. They sit next to each other nervously, like teenagers at a movie, and occasionally whisper in each other’s ears.

Although they still appear fond of each other, Alla tells the court their marriage is no longer happy. “We had arguments and fights over his drinking,” she says. A prim, neatly dressed accountant, she appears resolute in her determination to be rid of Anatoly. In just a few minutes, she has her wish.

Next up are Ilya and Tatiana, a couple in their 30s who have a 10-year-old daughter. They arrive together with a friend of Tatiana’s; at one point, the two women are reprimanded by the judge for giggling.

Still, when it comes time to tell their stories of marital woe, Tatiana has to daub away tears. Ilya says they simply don’t get along anymore; Tatiana says his parents don’t like her. “I think he’s a grown-up person, and if he has decided, so be it,” she says sadly. Divorce granted.

On it goes. Irina and Viktor haven’t lived together in five years, and he has a relationship with another woman. Divorce granted.

Mikhail is married to an alcoholic; the last time they were in court she was too drunk to speak coherently. Divorce granted, despite the fact that she hasn’t bothered to show up.

Olga is a young woman whose husband is a criminal on the lam from police. She says she hasn’t seen him since 1995. Divorce granted.

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For some of these couples, divorce does not mean separation. As in Soviet days, housing in Russia is extremely tight and many couples cannot afford to move apart. In the language of divorce courts, couples say they “no longer live like man and wife,” a delicate way of saying they live together but don’t have sex.

This may be messy, but as Judge Emilia Bondarenko points out, it often makes child custody cases easier: Joint custody is no problem when the parents live in the same home.

In general, though, child custody usually falls to the mother. When there are disputes, they are more likely to be about child support, not custody.

Such is the case with Dmitry and Raisa, Sorokin’s final case of the day. They have been married 17 years and have two sons, ages 12 and 14. Raisa arrives neatly dressed in a light suit and white trench coat, gold earrings glistening beneath her stylish red hair. Dmitry wears a navy blue track suit, the letters “U.S.A.” emblazoned on his pants.

Raisa says Dmitry drinks heavily and is carrying on an affair with another woman, with whom he has had a child. Dmitry admits there is another woman, but denies there is a child. As to drink, he says gruffly, “Yes, I like to have a glass or two.”

Raisa issues a plea to the judge: “Even the kids, now they understand everything and they’re asking me to get a divorce. He has driven us crazy. We are tired of his drinking. Since 1990, we don’t live like man and wife, and I ask the court to divorce us and make him pay child support for our sons.”

Dmitry protests. He doesn’t mind paying, he says, but he doesn’t want the court to order him. “These are my children and I love them,” he says. Rather than give money to his wife, he’d like to buy gifts for the children.

“And what will they eat?” the judge asks sharply.

He’ll bring them food from his job at a wholesale food market, he says.

“I don’t trust him,” Raisa says. She and Dmitry glare at each other.

The judge sides with Raisa. “In the name of the Russian federation,” she intones, “in the Kuntsevo District Court of Moscow, Judge Lidya Vladimirovna Sorokin . . . has decided to grant a divorce in the marriage . . . between Raisa and Dmitry L. Divorce certificates are issued upon payment of the state fee.”

Dmitry is ordered to pay one-third of his income in child support, and the entire 200,000 ruble ($35) processing fee. He and Raisa step sullenly out of the courtroom.

Court adjourns.

Afterward, Sorokin reflects on the changes--and, more to the point, the lack of them--she has seen in her 10 years on the bench. The biggest change in divorce cases, she says, is simply the declining numbers. “One day last week, I didn’t even have a single divorce case,” she says.

There were 562,000 divorces in Russia in 1996, down from 660,000 the year before. Russia has comparatively fewer divorces than the United States: 3.8 per 1,000 people in 1996, compared to an American rate of 4.6 per 1,000 in 1994, the most recent year available.

Sorokin believes Russians are so embattled by economic problems that they are closing ranks. “When there are financial difficulties in a family, people tend to cling to each other, to need each other,” she says.

As for the role of lawyers in divorce, Sorokin says attorneys complain privately to her that no one can afford to hire them. In any case, she says, no self-respecting lawyer would make a living off divorce law.

“Only the beginners, maybe,” she says. “But I don’t know of any.”