In a country with over 300 million people, I'm sure there's a lot of things going on that that pretty unbelievable, but unless you could obtain enough codeine, easily enough to do this, I don't see there being much more than a few curious people trying it under very specific circumstances. It takes a few boxes of the OTC shit to even make enough for a few doses.
Pretty sure the amount of codeine contained per pill is much higher by mgs from a US prescription than from Russian OTC counter pills, so you could probably make more out of a codeine script, but even so, literally the only thing making it popular in Russia is the availability of Codeine and the pre-existence of people with Heroin habits that can no longer afford it, which is strange too, because Russia is supposed to be loaded with high purity Afghan dope...you think it would be easier to hold off until you have $10 than to cook Krokodil with $3....They don't have maintenance drugs being prescribed in Russia though, so you cant really hit up your friend for a few Suboxone to get you through....but as an addict, the whole 1.5 hour thing and the whole going into WD every IDK, 2 hours or however long it would take...personally I'd be using the real thing anyway I could...