Most visit visas issued in the UAE are issued through the Dubai International Airport and are sometime mistakenly reffered to as a Dubai visa.

TRAVEL ADVISORY: (For a smooth entry in the UAE)
1. Make sure that you are holding a confirmed return air ticket.

The reality is that I had to buy the ticket to apply for the visa, and it was non-refundable. Believe me, I spent enough time arguing this point with the travel agent, the airline, and the visa center that it should only be a booking, as you say, and not a purchase of a non-refundable ticket, but this is what was actually required - I was to present a real purchased ticket, and it was non-refundable. If you'd like to understand more about this practice which indeed deviates from any common rules I can present you all the correspondence between the parties involved.
The 2nd important point is that I was not given a choice to book another airline to apply for the visa, although there are at least 2 other airlines that offer direct flights to Dubai.
I'm not a native English speaker, so I'm not in a position to argue about the semantics of the word 'force', but as its meaning includes 'to compel, constrain, or oblige (oneself or someone) to do something; to bring about of necessity or as a necessary result' it's a good enough word to describe the situation for me.

I am aware you need to have your flight booked and you must submit the dates and a valid passport - but there is nothing that states that it must be a NON REFUNDABLE ticket - that is what I am saying. There are no rules that state the ticket must be non refundable. Therefore you were not FORCED to buy a non refundable ticket - the point I was trying to make.

The OP was returning to Russia.

2 bellamie - how long have you been in the travel industry because what the OP described is pretty standard practice, especially in the Middle East. I'm not in the travel industry and I know hat...

That's correct, Russia. Here's the link to the Dubai Visa Processing Center http://www.dubaivisa.net/Russia/duration90days_check%20list.html that lists a Confirmed Emirates airline ticket photocopy as a mandatory document. The ticket was non-refundable - we were advised so by the airline.

First, I was FORCED to buy a non-refundable return ticket from Emirates to apply for the visa. On the way back from Dubai, I came 2.5 hours before the flight. They asked me and another 16 people to wait till 1 hour before the flight, but closed the flight 1.15 mins before the departure. Mind you they pawned off by offering a compensation - 9 hours at an airport hotel + a free return ticket to Dubai in the future, but I consider it useless and insulting provided that they ruined 2 days of my life (I arrived home at 2am on a working day, instead of 5pm the day before) and offered me something I don't need. They refused to provide a monetary compensation instead (as was the case with Air France once), refused to give me ANY contacts at the customer service I could talk to about the situation. I didn't get any upgrade, moreover, the seats we got had a broken entertainment system, flight attendants were ignoring our calls for 30 mins 2 times in a row when we were trying to find out whether it'd ever work. Net net, one of the worst experiences with an airline in my life.

I doubt you were forced- did they hold a gun to your head?

Buying a non-refundable return ticket is one of the conditions for getting a visa to Dubai.

That's news to me. I work in the travel industry and I have never seen a visa that required a non reufundable ticket - what country are you travelling from and what's your nationality - because I cannot find anything about this in visa requirements.