Russian President Vladimir Putin is urging the country’s citizens to have more children. He made this call citing the dangers of ethnic survival.
Russian families must have at least two children for ethnic survival, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday (February 16). He also said that if progress and success are to be achieved, Russian families must have three or more children.
Almost two years ago, Russia started invading Ukraine. Since launching the bloody war, Russia has suffered heavy casualties and thousands have fled the country for fear of opposing or joining the conflict. However, Russia did not disclose the number of casualties in the war.
Addressing workers at a tank factory in the Ural region, President Putin said the Russian people must have two children as a minimum per family if they want to preserve their identity.
“If we want to survive as an ethnic group – or to survive as an ethnic group living in Russia – there must be at least two children (per family),” he said. If each family had only one child, the population would decrease. And you need at least three children to grow and succeed.
Putin has declared himself a supporter of ‘traditional values’ based on family, nation and Orthodox Christian faith. During its 24-year rule, the country has severely restricted the expression of sexual orientation and gender identity and outlawed the ‘LGBT movement’, labeling it as ‘extremist’.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia suffered a gradual population decline for two decades. And this is mainly exacerbated by chronic problems such as alcoholism.
