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Putin to award Russia’s best mamas and papas

It will be the sixth such ceremony in Russia

MOSCOW, May 31 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will award Orders of Parental Glory to ten families with many children from all about Russia. The ceremony will be held at the Kremlin on Friday, May 31, the eve of the International Children’s Day.

It will be the sixth such ceremony in Russia. The first one was held in 2009.

The Order of Parental Glory is awarded to parents or adoptive parents who are married, in a civil union, or in the case of single-parent families, to one of the parents or adoptive parents who are/is raising, or have raised seven or more children as citizens of the Russian Federation for leading a healthy family life, being socially responsible, providing an adequate level of health care, education, physical, spiritual and moral development of the children, full and harmonious development of their personality, and setting an example to strengthen the institution of the family and child rearing. Each family eligible to this order receives 50,000 roubles and a certificate. Awarded families are also eligible to additional social support.

Each parent will also get the sign of the order and its miniature copy to bear on solemn occasions. The sign is a blue cross with a coat of arms in the centre against a red background. A version for mothers is provided with a silk ribbon and that for feathers has a pentagonal suspension device.

The Order of Parental Glory is a state award in Russia. It was established on May 13, 2008 to reward deserving parents of exceptionally large families. However, back in 1914, Russia had an award for merits in raising children, the St. Olga Badge. It heraldry lays in the basis of the Order of Parental Glory. In the Soviet period, mothers of many children were awarded Medals of Maternal Valor and Orders of Maternal Glory. They were also awarded the title of Hero Mother. These awards were established in 1944. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, mothers of many children were eligible to the Order of Friendship or a medal of the Order for Merits to the Fatherland.

According to the Russian State Statistics Agency, there are 76 million women in Russia, of whom 50 million have children but only 1.7 million women have more than two children. Specialists say that each family must give birth to at least two children to ensure simple reproduction of the population. However, now an average woman has only one child, with the exception of North Caucasian republics.

Putin has repeatedly vowed that the authorities would do their best to encourage Russians to have more children. He said families with many children should be so-to-say trend-setters in the country. “We must do our best so that a family with three or more children will be a norm in Russian. Some say it is an unachievable task. Everything is possible,” he stressed.

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