Putin sends childless Russian women to psychologists
Under guidelines overseen by the health ministry, women who answer negatively to questions in a medical history survey about whether they intend to have children will be encouraged to seek psychological support.
“It is recommended to send the patient to a consultation with a medical psychologist with the goal of forming a positive attitude towards having children,” according to the advice.
In 2024, Russia recorded its lowest annual total births since 1999 at 1.2 million. Alexei Raksha, a demographer, said last year that the first quarter of 2025 had seen the lowest number of births in the country in two centuries.
The crisis has been exacerbated by the full-scale war. As many as 325,000 Russian men have been killed in Ukraine since February 2022. According to data from early 2025, deaths in Russia outnumbered births by an average of 1.6 to 1.
In the immediate aftermath of the full-scale invasion, hundreds of thousands of Russians also emigrated from the country, many of whom were men of military age seeking to evade mobilisation.
By the early 2040s, the number of children and teenagers is expected to fall by more than a quarter, which could threaten Vladimir Putin’s ability to replenish Russia’s armed forces for future war efforts.
A raft of aggressive new policies aimed at addressing the issue have seen payouts for pregnant schoolgirls and campaigns to create “conditions for romantic relations” among young people.
One regional official last year suggested “digital abstinence” legislation to ban childless Russian couples from spending time on social media late at night, with the implication that they might use the time to procreate instead.
In October last year, Tatyana Golikova, the Russian deputy prime minister, announced the creation of a federal pregnancy register to monitor the outcome of women’s pregnancies as human rights groups warned it could infringe on women and girls’ right to privacy.
Although abortion remains officially legal in Russia, at least 31 of Russia’s 83 federal subjects have introduced de facto full or partial bans on the procedure.
Authorities also have outlawed what they describe as Western “propaganda” promoting childfree lifestyles, under which individuals can be fined up to 400,000 rubles (£3,500) for promoting life without children.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...hologists/
Under guidelines overseen by the health ministry, women who answer negatively to questions in a medical history survey about whether they intend to have children will be encouraged to seek psychological support.
“It is recommended to send the patient to a consultation with a medical psychologist with the goal of forming a positive attitude towards having children,” according to the advice.
In 2024, Russia recorded its lowest annual total births since 1999 at 1.2 million. Alexei Raksha, a demographer, said last year that the first quarter of 2025 had seen the lowest number of births in the country in two centuries.
The crisis has been exacerbated by the full-scale war. As many as 325,000 Russian men have been killed in Ukraine since February 2022. According to data from early 2025, deaths in Russia outnumbered births by an average of 1.6 to 1.
In the immediate aftermath of the full-scale invasion, hundreds of thousands of Russians also emigrated from the country, many of whom were men of military age seeking to evade mobilisation.
By the early 2040s, the number of children and teenagers is expected to fall by more than a quarter, which could threaten Vladimir Putin’s ability to replenish Russia’s armed forces for future war efforts.
A raft of aggressive new policies aimed at addressing the issue have seen payouts for pregnant schoolgirls and campaigns to create “conditions for romantic relations” among young people.
One regional official last year suggested “digital abstinence” legislation to ban childless Russian couples from spending time on social media late at night, with the implication that they might use the time to procreate instead.
In October last year, Tatyana Golikova, the Russian deputy prime minister, announced the creation of a federal pregnancy register to monitor the outcome of women’s pregnancies as human rights groups warned it could infringe on women and girls’ right to privacy.
Although abortion remains officially legal in Russia, at least 31 of Russia’s 83 federal subjects have introduced de facto full or partial bans on the procedure.
Authorities also have outlawed what they describe as Western “propaganda” promoting childfree lifestyles, under which individuals can be fined up to 400,000 rubles (£3,500) for promoting life without children.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...hologists/
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
