Russia's State Duma passed a second and third reading today of a law banning "propaganda about not having children," the latest move by the government to regulate social discourse while promoting President Vladimir Putin's "family values" agenda.
The draft now awaits approval from the Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, before Putin can sign it into law.
The law provides for fines for promoting the choice to not have children, with fines of up to five million rubles ($51.150) for organizations and 400.000 rubles ($4.090) for individuals.
Russia is facing significant population decline, a problem that Putin has often highlighted as urgent.
The government introduced a variety of measures to encourage population growth, including financial support for families, restrictions on abortion, and tighter controls on content deemed contrary to family values, such as LGBT-related material.
Putin presented these efforts as crucial to increasing the birth rate in Russia and securing its future. Critics, however, argue that the ban reflects a wider state agenda aimed at ensuring a steady supply of "future soldiers for the Kremlin", suggesting that demographic policy is aligned with military needs.
Overall, Russian casualties, killed or wounded in action, are estimated by Western estimates to exceed 500.000, with more men killed in the past 32 months than in the entire decade of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s.
The drive to outlaw the childfree movement has gained momentum in recent months, with Russian officials, including Federation Council Chairwoman Valentina Matviyenko, linking the trend to "radical feminism" from the West.
Matviyenko and others argue that promoting voluntary child absence undermines family values and exacerbates Russia's demographic challenges.
Meanwhile, a recent study by the Russian Higher School of Economics highlights the complexity of the demographic crisis.
Polls show that many Russians are delaying or refusing to have children due to factors such as the war in Ukraine, political uncertainty, economic tension and growing social anxiety.
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