one of the bill's authors is, ironically, a woman, olga batalina, a member of vladimir putin's united russia party. the russian orthodox church has also thrown its weight behind the law. one of its initiators, politician vitali milonov, was elected to the duma, the parliament, in 2016. mr. milonov: it's no big deal if a man or woman gets physical occasionally. the first time, they face a fine. if it happens again,they . but remember, the state has no business in private households. all kinds of things happen between married couples. they might hit each other, but suddenly, they make up. the criticism of our new law only comes from feminists and lesbians. they want to keep women from living together with men. >> politicians like milonov play down the acts of violence and the fact that more than 600 russian women are killed in their homes every month. there are hardly any shelters or organizations for the victims to turn to. some were even recently declared foreign agents because they had received money from abroad. [phone rings] >> [speaking in russian] >> one nongovernmental organizat