Russias lower house of parliament recently gave a nod to a bill that aims to crack down on so-called anti-child propaganda. The proposed legislation which still needs to clear a few more hurdles before becoming law‚ would make it illegal to spread information that promotes voluntary childlessness
The bill‚ if passed would slap hefty fines (up to 5 million rubles) on those found guilty of discouraging people from having kids. Elvira Aitkulova‚ one of the bills authors‚ claims its a move to clean up the info-space from whats seen as harmful content and create a good environment for Russian families
This is a strategic bill for the sake of a strong‚ productive and healthy future
Vyacheslav Volodin‚ the State Duma speaker‚ brushed off worries about free speech saying: “were defending children families and our values“
This bill is part of a bigger trend in Russia. In the past couple of years‚ the country has been pushing for what it calls traditional values. Vladimir Putin has been urging Russians to have big families – even suggesting as many as eight kids per family
The government has also been tightening its grip on LGBTQ-related issues. A while back‚ they banned LGBTQ info for all ages‚ and last year the Supreme Court labeled the international LGBTQ movement as extremist
Just last month lawmakers gave an initial thumbs-up to another bill. This one would stop Russians from adopting kids to countries where gender transitioning is legal
All these moves come as Russia tries to boost its population and push back against what it sees as Western influence. The countrys leaders often paint the West as trying to weaken Russia through various means – including by encouraging population decline