Before the game, there were loud jeers around Saint Petersburg Stadium after Belgium's players took a knee before kickoff. Loud music was played while the gesture against racism was taking place but the boos were still audible.
Belgium's victory was all the more impressive given the team was without playmaker Kevin De Bruyne, who wasn't deemed ready after a minor operation on a fractured nose and eye socket, and with captain Eden Hazard only playing the final 19 minutes as a substitute.
Lacking his ideal supporting cast, Lukaku still managed to score in each half — moving to 62 goals in 93 international matches in the process — and he was given a helping hand by Russia defender Andrei Semenov for the first goal.
Semenov miskicked while attempting to clear a cross from the right and the ball fell loose in the area. Lukaku pounced, finding the corner with a low finish.
That punctured what had been a celebratory atmosphere inside the stadium and another mistake, this time by goalkeeper Anton Shunin, allowed Meunier to double the lead. Thorgan Hazard's in-swinging cross was parried weakly by Shunin and Meunier slid his shot from the rebound into an unguarded net.
Meunier only came on the field in the 26th minute to replace fellow wing back Thomas Castagne, who took a nasty blow to the side of his face after clashing heads with Russia midfielder Daler Kuzyaev while they jumped for the ball.
Kuzyaev went off himself a few minutes later, the first of five substitutions — the maximum allotted — made by Russia coach Stanislav Cherchesov by the 63rd minute.
Belgium center back Jan Vertonghen also went off with an apparent leg injury in the second half before Lukaku's second goal.
