Russia continues its crusade against anything outside the box concept of family and traditional values. After adopting several laws aimed at criminalize and persecute the LGTBI communitythe Duma took the first step to end the “propaganda” which promotes a child-free lifestyle.
Russia’s Lower House on Thursday approved at first reading a controversial bill that seeks to increase the birth rate at all costs.
“It’s important protect peopleespecially the younger generations, of the ideology of sterility imposed on the Internet, in the media, in films and in advertising,” defended Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, an ally of President Vladimir Putin.
“We continue to form a unified legal framework for the protection of children, families and traditional values,” he added, referring to the set of LGTBIphobic regulations already in place.
Putin, obsessed with portraying Russia as a bastion of moral values caught in an existential struggle with a declining West, has repeatedly encouraged women to have at least three children to ensure the demographic future of the country.
“Women in Russia are basically being converted into ships for having childrens, without taking into account their situation, their motivations and whether they aspire to have a career or a family,” he denounced in statements to Reuters. Olga Suvorova, a rights activist who works with victims of domestic violence in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. “The message is clear: you have to give birth and that’s it,” he said.
Russia faces, like much of the West, a huge demographic challenge. In the first half of this year, its birth rate has fallen to its lowest level in a quarter of a century, 599,600 babies, or 16,500 fewer than the same period in 2023.
Duma Deputy Speaker Anna Kuznetsova said earlier this month that the law This was part of Russia’s “national security strategy.”
When this rule is approved, individuals or media outlets that create, publish and distribute “propaganda” promoting a child-free lifestyle will face heavy fines.
Sanctions will amount to 400,000 rubles (nearly 4,000 euros) for individuals, double this amount for civil servants and 5 million rubles (around 48,000 euros) for legal entities.
Despite this, the Speaker of the Duma defends this with this law The goal is not to criminalize women who decide not to be mothers. “The decision to have children or not is up to women, they will be the ones to choose, but there should be no propaganda that puts pressure on them when they make that decision.”
