In a determined bid to spice up Russia’s falling start charge, authorities are providing school-age women within the western area of Oryol a one-time fee of 100,000 rubles, nearly Rs 1 lakh, if they’ve kids. The transfer got here after large navy losses in Ukraine, the place reportedly 250,000 Russian troopers have misplaced their lives.The coverage, introduced by Oryol’s regional governor, Andrei Klychkov, expanded an current scheme that gives monetary incentives to college college students who develop into moms. Below the brand new guidelines, women in “full-time training” at faculties, vocational faculties, and universities within the area will now additionally qualify for the payout.A decree amending the coverage was printed on the Oryol authorities’s web site final week, confirming that the funds will likely be obtainable from 2025 to 2027. The announcement shortly sparked backlash after impartial media outlet 7×7 Horizontal Russia highlighted the change on Telegram.Going through criticism, Klychkov accused the press of sensationalising his announcement and insisted he was merely following Kremlin orders. “Sadly, journalists didn’t specify that there’s an order of the ministry of labor of Russia dated February 11, 2025, ‘On approval of methodological suggestions for the implementations for the implementation of measures of regional applications to extend the start charge, topic to co-financing from the federal funds,” he wrote on Telegram.The governor additionally claimed that no school-age women within the area presently qualify for the funds and defended the coverage as a type of assist for younger moms reasonably than an try to encourage teenage being pregnant.“Younger women in such a scenario typically make controversial choices,” Klychkov stated. “Our activity, since this has already occurred, is to assist them, to assist save the lifetime of the kid and the well being of the mom.” He additional urged the general public to see the measure as “one other type of social assist” reasonably than a stunning headline, New York Publish reported.Russia is dealing with a demographic disaster, with a start charge of simply 1.42 kids per girl and hovering mortality charges, in line with the World Financial institution.Russian President Vladimir Putin has additionally been pushing for bigger households, urging girls to have no less than three kids and branding “child-free” life as an “extremist ideology.”The conflict in Ukraine has additional exacerbated the disaster, with Britain’s ministry of defence estimating final week that Russia has suffered round 900,000 casualties because the invasion started in February 2022, together with 1 / 4 of one million deaths.
