Custody battles are, by their nature, messy affairs.

But a custody row in Russia came to a head when the former husband became violent and forcibly took his daughter from his ex-wife.

The ex-wife’s friend happened to be sitting in the passenger’s seat when the incident happened and managed to film what occurred. The altercation is believed to have happened in Naberezhnye Chelny, Republic of Tatarstan, in central Russia.

The disturbing video starts with the mother, who is in the driver’s seat, and the father, who is planted in front of the car blocking its way. They are exchanging heated words with the mother repeatedly telling the father to go away while the man refuses and tells her to open the door.

The woman steps slightly on the accelerator, forcing the man to step slightly back. With an exasperated laugh, the father takes something from his pocket and starts hitting the windshield.

The moment the windshield breaks, the mother screams loudly at the father and the sudden noise causes their daughter, who is in the backseat, to start crying.

The father then proceeds to the driver’s side window, smashes it, then reaches in to shut the engine before switching the power locks to unlock the doors while the ex-wife numbly watches.

The dad then quickly opens the back door and reaches for his daughter while trying to calm her down. A bystander comes over to the car but doesn’t do anything to stop the father.

According to local reports, the pair had been in a custody battle for some time now but have failed to reach an amicable agreement.

Per Russian family law, mothers are almost always given custody of a child except in cases where the child may be in danger of abuse or exposure to domestic violence.

One thing is for sure, the child will be traumatized for life and is an unfortunate casualty of her feuding parents.