Quote Originally Posted by Funanori View Post
but in western countries, the middle name doesn't mean anything...
Maybe problem is in what does patronym mean in Russia.
It is required as part of full name in cases where identity is important - documents, contracts and so on.
It can be used in official speeches or meetings (and so on) as part of full name, but this is not requred - name+surname raises no questions also.
It can be substitute for name in informal speech only. This causes special "informal" forms of names, for example: Михалыч which is derived from patronym Михайлович.
It can be paired with name (without surname) to show respect or formal tone. This is almost required for cases such as: student talks to teacher, worker talks to boss (especially boss of boss and higher), formal addressing where surname is omitted.

I think there is no chance that russian patronym written in documents as middle name will be used properly, so... Maybe this really doesn't make sense.