Background Rates of violence in Russia are among the highest in the orld, and violent victimisation represents a major public health threat n the country. As yet, however, little research has been undertaken on hat factors are associated with non-lethal violent victimisation in his setting. This study used data from the Moscow Health Survey 2004 to xamine the effects of binge drinking and social capital on individuals' isk of non-fatal violent victimisation. ethods A stratified random sampling strategy was used across Moscow's 25 municipal districts to collect data from 1190 individuals aged 18+ ears. Respondents reported if they had been a victim of physical iolence in the previous 12 months. Data were also collected on binge rinking (defined for men as consuming >= 80 g of pure alcohol, and for omen >= 60 g of pure alcohol, at least once per month) and social apital (frequency of interaction with relatives, friends and cquaintances). esults Overall, 8.7% of the respondents had been a victim of violence n the past 12 months. Men who binge drink were more than twice as ikely to have been a victim of non-lethal violence (OR 2.19, CI 1.23 to .92), while greater levels of social capital acted as a protective actor against male victimisation (OR 0.82, CI 0.69 to 0.97). Neither inge drinking nor social capital was associated with violent ictimisation among women. onclusion Urgent public health measures are now needed to reduce xcessive alcohol consumption and detrimental drinking patterns to bring own the high levels of violent victimisation in Russia.