Latest news with #MikhailIvanov
Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Top Putin ally pushes childless couple social media ban so they have more sex
MP Mikhail Ivanov, 51, has suggested childless couple should be forced into "digital abstinence" - banning them from social media between 11pm and 2am - in the hopes it will help spark their passion for each other Childless Russian couples should be banned from accessing social media late at night in a bid to encourage them to have sex and start families, according to a pro-Putin politician. The madcap plan for 'digital abstinence' comes from the mind of Mikhail Ivanov, 51, a regional MP in region Bryansk which borders Ukraine. If the scheme is implemented, the Russian state would switch off the couples' access to social media each night from 11pm to 2am. This is the latest bizarre scheme to meet Vladimir Putin 's order to boost the flagging birth rate in Russia and help bring back 'strong Russian families'. 'If young people spend nights on their phones instead of paying attention to each other, then this is a road to nowhere,' said Ivanov, deputy head of the pro-dictator World Russian People's Council which seeks a return to the Kremlin's empire. 'Russia has always been famous for its strong families, and our task is to bring back this tradition. If this requires temporarily restricting access to entertainment content at a late hour, then this is not a large price to pay for the future of the nation.' He also wants psychologists to teach couples 'the importance of live communication and a conscious approach to creating a family'. Critics say the Russian population is plummeting because couples are against having children in the middle or a war, which has also killed an estimated 250,000 people. But Ivanov, married with children, believes social media is the problem. 'The Internet has become a new form of addiction that corrodes the foundations of the family,' he said. 'Young people, instead of communicating with each other, building relationships and thinking about children, spend hours scrolling through the feed, playing games or watching TV series. 'This is not just a bad habit, it is a threat to the demographic security of the country. We must create conditions in which couples will have an incentive to return to real communication and conscious parenting.' Meanwhile, a Kremlin-friendly MP has suggested giving workers one week's paid leave a year to procreate. An annual 'demographic week' would meet Putin's urgent demand to boost Russia's shrinking population level, according to Georgy Arapov, 25. 'For many citizens it would be a rare opportunity to stop, breathe out, recover from stress and come to that internal state that doctors and psychologists call optimal for making a decision to have a child,' said Arapov, Russia's youngest MP. Another scheme for a tax on childlessness has been proposed by the Russian Orthodox Church, aiming to stigmatise 'sick' men in their 40s who fail to father babies. This was proposed by pro-Putin archpriest and propagandist Andrei Tkachev, 55.
Russia Today
2 days ago
- Politics
- Russia Today
Russian regional MP calls for internet ‘abstinence' for childless couples
Childless couples in Russia should be cut off from internet access at night to increase the country's declining birth rate, according to Mikhail Ivanov, a deputy in the Bryansk regional parliament. The politician claims that young people are increasingly replacing real-life communication with late-night web surfing. The birth rate in Russia has become a pressing issue for lawmakers, prompting the authorities to explore a range of measures – from tax breaks to restricting abortions. 'The internet has become a new form of addiction that erodes the foundations of the family,' Ivanov told the Abzats news outlet on Monday. The trend poses 'a threat to the country's demographic security,' according to Ivanov. Ivanov, who also chairs the Orthodox Russia movement, said that young people 'are spending hours scrolling through feeds, playing games, or watching TV shows instead of communicating with each other, building relationships, and considering having children.' He urged the creation of conditions that could 'encourage couples to return to real-life communication and intentional parenthood.' Ivanov proposed beginning with a 'voluntary experiment' involving internet providers, social services, and family psychologists to raise awareness among young couples about the importance of face-to-face communication and family planning. According to the Russian federal statistics agency Rosstat, there were 1.22 million births in the country in 2024 – a 3.4% decrease compared to 2023 – making it the worst year on record since 1999. Rosstat forecasts the birth rate in the country will begin to rise starting in 2028. Other recent proposals to address the demographic decline include reviving the Soviet-era 'childless tax,' banning abortions, requiring employers to monitor employee birth rates, offering female prisoners early release in exchange for childbirth, and even encouraging women to wear miniskirts in summer. These initiatives have met with mixed public reactions. Nina Ostanina, head of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women, and Children, warned against floating ideas that may be perceived as 'offensive.' Recent surveys by Western researchers suggest that there is a plausible link between declining birth rates and the growing role of the internet and technology in everyday life. Earlier this year, the US-based Institute for Family Studies reported a significant decline in sexual activity among young adults, attributing it to broader societal shifts in relationship patterns and delayed marriage. Previous surveys have also indicated that young people are having less sex and fewer sexual partners than previous generations, citing reasons such as technology, demanding academic schedules, and an overall slower transition into adulthood.
