DJ,
Money for large loan payments probably, or else it has more to do with lust than disrespect. Daft nonetheless though.
Regarding Russia, there is an article in a recent Flight International saying the Russian state flying school is modifying their course to meet the high demand sooner. They are reducing the theory from 5 to 4 years and the flying to 18 months. All I can deduce from this is that the theory must be either high school starting with 14 year olds or it includes a university degree. It's probably a training system held over from the Soviet Union days.