The Speaker of the State Duma and the Senate leaders have both launched a harsh attack on what they describe as an extremist childlessness movement and announced that legislation against such "propaganda" is being prepared.
Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin claims on social media that there are large groups that "show disrespect for motherhood and fatherhood, aggression towards pregnant women and children, and towards people with large families".
The upcoming legislative proposals are linked to the previously introduced legislation that prohibits "LGBTQ propaganda" in broad terms, and are motivated as measures to strengthen nuclear families. The penalties can, according to Volodin, be fines of up to 400,000 rubles, equivalent to approximately 40,000 kronor, for individuals.
Russia's birth rate has been declining since the 1990s, and President Vladimir Putin has taken several political initiatives to encourage women to have more children, which he describes as crucial for the future of the Russian people.
Raising the birth rate is, of course, a top priority for the entire government and the entire country. Therefore, we must do everything necessary to raise the birth rate, and everything that hinders it must, of course, disappear from our lives, said Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov to Russian media last week.
