Human Rights Advocates Denounce Putin’s Call for Russians to Follow Chechens and Promote Teenage Marriages

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Dec. 20 – In response to Putin’s attempt to boost the fertility rate in Russia and thus brake the decline in the number of Russians, officials there have promoted teenage pregnancies. But this effort has proved counterproductive by leading to an increase in STDs and higher birthrates among non-Russians but not among ethnic Russians.

            (For discussions of these two unintended consequences of this campaign which has enjoyed Kremlin support even though it has been the federal subjects which have pushed it through, see windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2025/08/moscows-promotion-of-teenage.html and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2025/04/rf-regions-promoting-teenage.html.).

            Now, in his direct line broadcast, Putin has entered the fray by suggesting that Russians should copy the practice of Chechens and marry as minors so that they will begin having children earlier and will thus be more likely to have more progeny as a result (kavkazr.com/a/putin-nazval-realjno-praviljnymi-braki-mezhdu-nesovershennoletnimi-i-privel-v-primer-semjyu-kadyrova/33627993.html).

            That has sparked a firestorm of criticism by human rights activists who point out that such marriages are arranged by parents, ignore the rights of the young women in them, and often involve the use of violence to keep young women involved (kavkazr.com/a/pravozaschitniki-raskritikovali-predlozhenie-putina-zhenitj-detey/33629760.html).

            Moreover, Putin’s proposal ignores three other things: the birthrate in Chechnya has been falling despite allowing these medieval practices, women in that republic and other parts of the North Caucasus have organized to end them, and extending such practices to other parts of the Russia will give the Kremlin a black eye as far as many people of good will are concerned.