Ok, pal, just let me explain you some peculiarities of such a product as "Russian Butter".
First of all, the enigmatic "percentage". It's amount of fat. So, 100 grams of 80% butter is 80 grams of pure animal fat. All the rest are water and different kinds of sugar, milk acid and whatever butter consists of. Amount of fat is the main characteristic of diary products, in Russia, at least, that is why they print that percentage on any diary product package. Fairly easy, eh?
Now, for the softness of butter. You know, maybe the idea of what butter should look like is the main difference between Russians and Americans. Probably it's the thing that caused the Cold War
For example, softness of "Russian butter" highly depends on its temperature. While kept in fridge, it is hard (when I was in Siberia, I saw a wonderful picture of a fellow chopping a piece of butter with an axe
). When kept in room temperature, it is almost as soft as "American" butter. And if heated, it may even become liquid! Try this at home, it's gorgeous stuff to see;-)
Next, Russian butter has nearly no smell, maybe just a faint smell of cream (if you buy your butter in a shop, of course. Home-made, "village" butter has strong cow smell. You've got to get used to it...)
And finally, it is a diary product, so it can't be kept forever. So if you feel there's something wrong about your butter (strange colour or smell), you'd better just throw it away and buy another packet.
And as for that refined "soft" butter of yours. I think I know what you are speaking about. It is sold in Russia as "soft" or "sandwich" butter, and is not in fact butter at all (in Russian point of view). It is margarine - solid blend of different vegetable fats. It is always soft, yellow and has strong specific stench. And, I guess, it can be kept for a long time without getting spoilt.
That's all. So long, and priyatnogo appetita
P.S. I might just add that here in Russia they sometimes sell solid margarine as butter, so you've got to be very careful and choose only the most expensive stuff if you don't want to be cheated.
P.P.S. Maybe you'll want to heat your knife while dealing with a piece of right-from-the-fridge butter.