It's difficult to answer your question just "yes" or "no".

Russia (as well as Japan, by the way) belongs to so-called high-context culture (you can find the the term in the internet). It means that the formal law here is kind of a surface layer - something minor,

secondary, optional for execution... At the same time there are informal rules of living, of behaviour, of intercommunion  which are common and generally accepted. At the same time those "rulls" are flexible and depend on many factors: on a person's status, on circumstances, on situation...

If something is prohibited by law, it doesn't mean that it's prohibited for everyone, always and everywhere. For example, if you overspeed on the road  you must be fined by a policman. But quite often you can "pay off" with cash, a lower ammount - to give a bribe. It is quite conventional... but... you have to guess first whether the policeman is in the proper mood, whether the situation is suitable, what ammount would be suficcient for the bribe, and so on. And you give a bribe you have do do it in a proper way. And you cant read these informal rulls in a textbook. You can learn them just by experience of living in the country. And you have to be always "tuned" on other people's mood, you have to feel them, to feel the situation.

So, the situation you described may look terrible for some foreigners, but is usual and customary for Russians. Russia has been living this way for many centuries - and however it manages to survive.