RUSSIA’S LAWMAKERS VOTE TO BAN ‘CHILD-FREE PROPAGANDA’ – Violators under the law could be fined up to €3,789
Russia’s lawmakers have voted in favour of a law to ban “propaganda” discouraging Russians from having children. Laws that would outlaw “propaganda” discouraging Russians from having children have been approved today in the first of three readings in the lower house of parliament.
The legislation would ban materials on the internet, in the media and in advertising that are deemed to portray a child-free lifestyle as attractive, and subject the authors to fines.
President Vladimir Putin, who portrays Russia as a bastion of “traditional values” encourages women to have at least three children to secure the demographic future of the country.
Deputy Duma speaker Anna Kuznetsova said the law was part of Russia’s “national security strategy”. The chairman of the lower house of Russian Parliament,Vyacheslav Volodin, has stated that it is important to protect the younger generation from having the ideology of childlessness imposed on them on the internet, in the media, in movies, and in advertising.
Volodin condemned propagators of “child-free movement” for devaluing the institution of family with an ideology that encourages a “conscious refusal to have children”. Violators under the law could be fined up to €3,789 and foreigners who violate the law could also face deportation.
