Russian President Vladimir Putin is urging Russians to have more children. 
"Large families must become the norm," Putin said in a speech Tuesday. 
Russian birth rates are falling amid war in Ukraine and a deepening economic crisis. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin is urging women to have as many as eight children as the number of dead Russian soldiers continues to rise in his war with Ukraine, worsening the country’s population crisis.

Addressing the World Russian People’s Council in Moscow on Tuesday, Putin said the country must return to a time when large families were the norm.

“Many of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers, had seven, eight, or even more children,” Putin said.

  • RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    I find it hard to imagine wanting to have kids just so your dictator has more meat to feed into his meat grinder. Perhaps the only good news is Putin hopefully doesn’t have 18 more years in him, so the kids won’t have to deal with him directly, but who knows who will sit in the throne next…

    • Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I doesn’t work either. Appeals to nationalism, religion, and even straight up paying and providing luxury benefits to people, in order to have them start having more kids just did nothing in the long run. The world is different. Your children are more likely to become independent adults when you put your resources into a smaller number of children. The cost/benefits ratio of having large families to produce stability, and increase the chances at least one child will be successful, has completely reverse from 100+ years ago.

      • HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I don’t know if or when they ended the Maternity Medal, Order of Maternal Glory, and Mother Heroine awards for having large families in Russia. I don’t know much about the programs, just what a friend who emigrated told me about them (and what wikipedia says)

    • PoliticalAgitator@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      You’re already projecting compassion he doesn’t have by assuming he’d wait for them to turn 18. If he thought it would work, he’d march 5 year olds in bomb vests over the border then have Elon announce that Ukraine kills children.

      • SCB@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I mean it’s unlikely Putin lives another 16 years, so even if they’re sending 15 year olds to the front this won’t help the war machine

        It’s more about long-term population loss. There’s a reason combined-arms forces are used and mass infantry assaults are not. Problem is, Russian military hardware sucks for a lot of different and systemic reasons so that option isn’t realistic over a large theater.

        Putin is straight up bleeding Russia out and it’s really sad that this many people are displaced and dying over one man’s ego and lust for his station.

    • rammer@sopuli.xyz
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      1 year ago

      The hate of men will pass and dictators die and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die liberty will never perish.

      Source