From digging around this story, it appears that the purpose of this Russian experiment was to study wtf happens when you shove a bunch of people in a space station sized tube for 6 months. They weren't actually training to go to space or anything.

http://www.erces.com/journal/articles/archives/volume2/v02/v03.htm#_ftn30

The experiment attracted international attention as several crimes were committed in the station. Two Russian astronauts committed battery, assault and attempted murder and one of them –the Russian commander- also sexually assaulted and harassed Judith Lapierre[26]. Russian officials tried to minimize these incidents but the Canadian reaction against the sexual assault virtually derived in a diplomatic conflict[27].

At several occasions during the 110-day experiment, Judith Lapierre reported that she feared she would be sexually attacked[28]. However, Russian authorities did nothing to protect her, in part because they were interested in studying human reaction, including criminal and deviant behavior, to isolation in outer space[29].

These were not isolated incidents. Although kept highly confidential, similar deviant acts occurred in other outer space missions[34]. Because of its proportions and the attention it received in the media[35], the 1999 incidents influenced the negotiation and drafting of the Code of Conduct for the International Space Station and shaped the criminal justice response envisioned for dealing with criminal incidents in the International Space Station. These incidents show that human missions and settlements in outer space are very likely to have a significantly high degree of occurrence[36].

I mean, I feel bad for Ms. LaPierre, but it appears that it may have been shrugged off less because it was "part of the Russian culture" and more because "part of the Russian experiment".