Russian MPs ban promotion of “child-free” life – rts.ch

According to this law, voted unanimously and which must still be adopted by the upper house on November 20, individuals who promote a child-free lifestyle would risk a fine of 400,000 rubles (approximately 3500 francs) and civil servants double it. For legal entities, the sanction could be increased to five million rubles (45,000 francs).

This decision is part of the ultraconservative turn of Russian power on social issues, taken under the leadership of Vladimir Putin since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022.

Against “decadence”

Political and religious leaders see in the defense of so-called “traditional” values ​​an extension of Russia’s struggle against the West, accused of moral “decadence”. The rights of the LGBT community have notably been reduced to nothing.

“A strong family has been proclaimed as a traditional value” in Russia in 2022, underline the authors of the text in an explanatory note. However, “one of the threats to traditional values ​​is the promotion in Russian society of the ‘childless’ ideology, which leads to a degradation of social institutions (…) and creates circumstances for depopulation” , they say.

In the crosshairs of the promoters of the law, communities and groups which would expose themselves to heavy fines for doing what is described as the promotion of a “Childfree” lifestyle and which would have an aggressive attitude towards “those who carry out their need to be a mother or father”, whether on the internet, in the media and books, in films or in advertisements.

Demographic decline

The law also aims to respond to the significant Russian demographic decline which Vladimir Putin has never managed to remedy since he came to power a quarter of a century ago.

In 2023, the fertility rate in Russia was 1.41 children per woman of childbearing age, far from the population renewal rate, according to estimates from the Russian Statistics Agency, cited by the economic daily RBC.

ats/lia