Putin signed a decree pardoning 52 women

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree pardoning 52 women.

“First of all, women with minor children, pregnant women, as well as women whose relatives are participating in a special military operation are pardoned,” the Kremlin website says.

Also today, March 8, Putin traditionally congratulated Russian women on International Women’s Day. He noted that women are capable of transforming the world with their beauty, wisdom and spiritual generosity, but above all, by giving birth to children.

Putin called motherhood a woman’s destiny and declared that “the most important thing for any woman” is family and “unceasing care for children.”

• The birth rate in Russia has been falling since 2014 and is now at a record low level since 1999. The falling birth rate is regularly brought up for discussion by the Russian authorities. In order to “raise the demographics”, they come up with initiatives to restrict access to abortion and contraception.
• According to the estimates of the United Women’s Non-Governmental Consortium, in 2018, about five thousand women died as a result of domestic violence – 61% of all women killed in Russia that year. Mass media regularly report on the deaths of women at the hands of their partners.
• Bills on the prevention of domestic violence have been submitted to the State Duma more than 40 times, but not a single one has been adopted. In 2017, the article on beatings was removed from the Russian Criminal Code, and administrative liability was introduced for domestic violence.