Putin calls on Russian women to have ‘eight or even more children’ after population fell by 550,000 during first year of his war in Ukraine

• Putin said there was a moral imperative for Russians to have a family on Tuesday 

Vladimir Putin is demanding that Russian women give birth to ‘seven, eight or more’ children to halt a population slump.

Warning it is impossible to solve Russia’s ‘catastrophic demographic problems’ with more money, benefits and social payments, he urged citizens to have more children while speaking via video link at the World Russian People’s Council on Tuesday.

‘Many of our peoples maintain the tradition of the family, where four, five or more children are raised. Recall that in Russian families our grandmothers and great-grandmothers had both 7 and 8 children. Let us preserve and revive these traditions,’ Putin said.

‘Having many children, a large family, should become a norm, a way of life for all the peoples of Russia. A family is not just the foundation for state and society, it is a spiritual phenomenon, the source of morality,’ he continued.

Putin himself is believed to have at least six children, with three partners, although he only publicly admits to two daughters.

Many blame his war in Ukraine for a massive decline in the birth rate – and rise in deaths, wounding his popularity in the leadup to the March 2024 elections. Russia’s population fell by some 550,000 during the first year of his invasion, with many families reluctant to start a family amid economic uncertainty and conflict.

Putin urged citizens to have more children at the World Russian People’s Council on Tuesday

Alina Kabaeva and father Vladimir Putin (left) at an event at the Kremlin in an undated photo

Lyudmila Putina (Ocheretnaya), former wife of President Vladimir Putin (L) and Vladimir Putin

Putin is demanding a big change in attitudes from Russians with parents currently producing an average of just 1.42 children between them.

Russia has endured a staggering collapse of its birthrate since prior to the collapse of the USSR. 

READ MORE: 45,000 women prisoners in Putin’s jails should be freed temporarily to get pregnant and reverse Russia’s falling birth rate, Kremlin lawmaker says 

Demographers cite a crashing economy and strict abortion regulations as deterrents for would-be parents.

Life expectancy has barely climbed since 1991, reaching just 71.34 years in 2020. Conflicts in central Asia and Ukraine have not helped this, nor a widespread drinking problem.

According to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, ‘some of the objective reasons for Russia’s demographic problems reflect historical dynamics: the number of women of childbearing age is falling, and the average age at which women are having children is rising steadily in modernized, urban, well-educated populations.’

The think tank also noted the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine have ‘created a backdrop of extreme uncertainty about the future’.

‘This has predictably changed family planning: some people are deciding not to have children or to postpone starting a family or having another child until more psychologically and financially stable times.

‘Nor does the militarization of life in Russia encourage people to add to their families, except for those who consider it their duty to supply the motherland with cannon fodder for future wars,’ a 2023 report observed starkly.

The Russian president, 71, himself is well known to have two daughters with his first wife Lyudmila Putina, 65, Russia’s former first lady.

They are Maria Vorontsova, 38, a geneticist and expert on dwarfism is a leading researcher at the National Medical Research Centre for Endocrinology of the Ministry of Health of Russia.

He is also father to Katerina Tikhonova, 37, a high kicking ‘rock’n’roll’ dancer-turned-mathematician, is director-general of the National Intellectual Development Foundation in Russia. 

Luiza Rozova, 20, also known as Elizaveta Krivonogikh, is another of Putin’s children, believed to be a student in Paris, who he fathered after a long term extra marital relationship with cleaner-turned-multimillionaire Svetlana Krivonogikh, 48, according to Russian investigative journalists.

Putin said there was a moral imperative to have a family, addressing Russians on Tuesday

Young woman identified as Vladimir Putin’s daughter, known as both Elizaveta Krivonogikh and Luiza Rozova

Katerina Tikhonova, 37, a high kicking ‘rock’n’roll’ dancer-turned-mathematician, and daughter of Putin

Maria Vorontsova, 37, pictured running a Genetics and Law debate at the 10th St Petersburg International Legal Forum

He is separately understood to have three young children with current partner Alina Kabaeva, 40, a former Olympic gold medal winning rhythmic gymnast.

There is also unconfirmed speculation that he fathered a son while stationed in East Germany as a Soviet KGB spy.

But Putin refuses to divulge details of his private life to Russians – despite instructing people on how many babies they should have.

‘I have a private life in which I do not permit interference. It must be respected.’

He deplored ‘those who with their snotty noses and erotic fantasies prowl into others’ lives’.

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