ELECTION CAMPAIGN: It is in this session, talking to workers at the military factory in Nizhny Tagil, that Putin starts talking about how many children people should have. Photo: RAMIL SITDIKOV / SPUTNIK / Kremlin POOL / EPA / NTB
Vladimir Putin (71) asks Russians to have at least two children, preferably three. One expert believes that he is trying to shift attention away from the war.
Friday 16 February at 00:17
The short version
- Vladimir Putin encourages Russians to have two or three children.
- He is on a campaign trip ahead of the election on 17 March.
- Putin talks about the need to support young people and families with children.
- Critics claim he is trying to divert attention from the war.
- An expert points out poor conditions for Russian children and increasing war propaganda.
Sea view
This comes out in an interview that the president gave during his visit to Nizhny Tagil on Thursday, reproduced by RBK.
The trip is part of Putin’s election campaign ahead of the presidential election on 17 March. The statement came when he visited a factory that produces, among other things, tanks.
– If we want to survive as an ethnic group – or at least as the ethnic groups that live in Russia – there must be at least two children, says Putin, while showing two fingers.
Putin states that if a couple makes two children, then the population will be stable.
– And to expand and develop, you need at least three children, Putin continues.
The president spoke about the need to support young families, especially families with children.
FACTORY VISIT: Vladimir Putin tests out the seat of a bus driver during a visit to the Sverdlovsk region on Thursday. Photo: Alexei Nikolsky / AP / NTB
According to CIA Russia had only 1.51 children per woman in 2023.
– Everything we do is in one way or another connected to supporting the families, says Putin.
Inna Sangadzhieva of the Helsinki Committee says that the Kremlin has stated that 2024 is the “year of the family”.
– Putin is on an election tour and then he has to appease the families who sacrifice their men in the war. He tries to shift attention away from the war and its tragedies.
– Explain!
– The situation for children in Russia is miserable. One in five children lives in extreme poverty. Children lose their fathers in the war. Single mothers struggle tremendously if they get divorced. And…
– And?
– The children are becoming more and more involved in the war propaganda. They are given military uniforms, they march and train with weapons in kindergartens and primary schools. They become part of the war machine and, in effect, cannon fodder, which Putin needs.
– But the Russian economy is doing well?
– This is due to the war industry – which provides jobs and careers. All growth in the economy occurs within the military. It does not help the economy.
EXPERT: Inna Sangadzhieva. Photo: Helsingforskomiteen
Sangadzhieva talks about the wives of mobilized soldiers – who protest that their men have been at the front for so long.
– Putin lives in his own reality. He tries to avoid talking about all this by focusing instead on traditional values and on families. The regime intervenes more and more in people’s privacy. He thinks it gives him increased legitimacy, says Sangadzhieva.
She also points out that Putin is drawing attention away from Boris Nadezhdin, the man who wanted to stand as a presidential candidate against Putin, but was rejected by the electoral commission. He has now appealed this decision to the Supreme Court.
The war opponent Nadezhdin will, according to several opinion polls, get the second most votes in the election – should he be allowed to run.
Vladimir Putin wanted to limit Russian women’s right to abortion this autumn. Then Russian women got so angry that he changed his mind. However, restrictions have been introduced for private clinics in some regions. Many believe that Putin will introduce new rules after the elections in March.
2024-02-15 22:27:37
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