The Kremlin introduced censorship on reports of the minimum birth rate in Russia

The Kremlin has banned controlled mass media from reporting on the minimum birth rate in Russia during Vladimir Putin’s rule, reports The Moscow Times with reference to sources in the state news agencies TASS and RIA Novosti.

According to the sources, strict censorship was introduced after Putin’s meeting with the head of the Ministry of Health, Mikhail Murashko, which took place on July 12. After that, the head of the department made a number of statements that caused a public outcry about limiting women’s rights – in particular, Murashko came up with the idea of ​​banning abortion services for commercial clinics and introducing restrictions on the sale of drugs for medical abortion.

At the same time, Rosstat recorded a record drop in the birth rate. According to the agency, from January to June, 511,700 children were born in the country. Compared to the same period last year, the number of births decreased by 11.5 thousand, or by 1.2%. At the same time, last year’s indicators turned out to be the worst in more than twenty years.

Also, according to Rosstat data, the relative birth rate from January to June of the current year, 8.5 children per 1,000 people, became one of the worst in the modern history of Russia. This indicator was lower only in 1999 – 8.3 children per 1,000 people.

In May, the press secretary of the President of Russia, Dmitry Peskov, admitted that from the point of view of demography, the country is “in a very difficult situation.”