The Family Code of Russia states that a marriage can only be contracted between a man and a woman, neither of whom is married to someone else.
[2] Under Russian law, de facto polygamy or multiple cohabitation in and of itself is not a crime.
[5] In July 1999, Ruslan Aushev, at the time the president of Ingushetia, signed a decree allowing men in the republic to marry up to four wives, in accordance with the Islamic tradition.
Russia's justice minister immediately criticized the regional decree as unconstitutional since it directly contradicted provisions of a federal law (the Family Code).
[6][7] Aushev's decree was struck down by the courts a year later, by which time over 15 men in Ingushetia had taken advantage of the right to officially register their marriages to multiple women.