Russia’s president plans to follow the example of Joseph Stalin, who established the “Mother Heroine” award in 1944
Vladimir Putin is offering a respectable amount to any mother in Russia who manages to give birth to 10 children, according to the “Mirror”.
Faced with a demographic problem, the Russian president hopes that offering 1 million rubles will encourage more Russian women to start large families.
In fact, the new decree was signed by Putin on Monday, August 15. Russia’s president plans to follow suit Joseph Stalin, who had established the “Mother Heroine” award in 1944, to encourage large families, following the deaths of tens of millions of Soviet citizens during World War II. More than 400,000 women had received the award before it was abolished after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Under the new decree, women will receive a lump sum of one million rubles after their tenth child reaches their first birthday, provided the other nine children are alive.
Putin has signed a decree reestablishing the “Mother Heroine” award that existed in the USSR from 1944 to 1991, awarded to mothers who raised 10 or more children.
Recipients will also be awarded a one-time reward of 1 million rubles. pic.twitter.com/rz6oPuQL2c
— Oliver Alexander (@OAlexanderDK) August 15, 2022
Some Kremlin critics, however, accused Putin of encouraging women to produce “weapon fodder,” as they ironically put it, for the Russian military.
“As a rule, one can rely on those who grew up in a large family. These people will not let down a friend, nor colleagues, nor their country”, was the answer given by Putin.
Vladimir Putin is the youngest of three brothers in his family and the only one who survived their childhood. His older brother, Albert, died as an infant in the 1930s and his other brother, Viktor, died in 1942 of starvation and diphtheria during the Siege of Leningrad.
Russia has experienced a sharp population decline, which reached a record rate in July this year.
In 2021, the country’s population shrank from 146 million to about 145.3 million. This echoes a decades-long trend of population decline, the rate of which has almost doubled since 2021.
THE Alain Bluma demographer at the National Institute for Demographic Studies, told France 24: “When the Soviet Union fell, the country was plunged into a severe demographic crisis. For the first time, Russia’s death rate significantly exceeded its birth rate, leading to a decline in its population».
Putin himself is said to consider the issue extremely important and mentions it in his speeches, with some believing he sees the population as an indication of how powerful the state is. Further reports say that despite indications of heavy troop losses in Ukraine, this will have minimal impact on the population as a whole.
As the war broke out, some experts predicted a drop in the birth rate, with economic uncertainty preventing people from having children.
The Russian demographer, Alexey Rakshastated: “During economic crises, people are less inclined to have children, which makes sense. Confidence in the future plays a key role in a country’s birth rate».
Read the News today and get the latest news. Follow us on Google News and be the first to learn all the news from Skai.gr.
