MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russian families must produce at least two children for nation’s ethnic survival.
His remarks came As Russia has suffered heavy casualties since launching its war in Ukraine nearly two years ago. After the war hundreds of thousands of people have fled the country due to the opposition to the conflict.
Putin addressing employees at a tank factory in the Urals region said that two children per family was the minimum number if the people of Russia want to save their identities.
“If we want to survive as an ethnic group – well, or as ethnic groups inhabiting Russia – there must be at least two children,” he said.
He added if each family had just one child, the population would be reduced and in order to expand and develop, they need at least three kids.
Putin claims to be a supporter of traditional values based on family, nation and the Orthodox Christian faith.
During his 24 years in power, Russia has severely restricted sexual orientation and gender identity and banned the “LGBT movement”.
Russia has suffered decline in population in past two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The country’s statistics bureau estimated the population at 146.4 million at the beginning of 2023, down from nearly 149 million 20 years earlier.
