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‘Cautious on non-traditional things’: Putin comments on same-sex marriages, demographics

The president is cautious because "non-traditional marriages don’t produce children"

MOSCOW, October 29. /TASS/. When replying to a question leading to the topic of same-sex marriages, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted being ‘cautious’ on the subject, though he emphasized that he treats the topic with ‘understanding’, as he himself said at the Russia Calling! Forum on Thursday.

In response to a question about the possibility of introducing non-traditional methods into Russia’s monetary policy, the head of state pointed out: "We are a bit cautious about all non-traditional things but we also have an understanding for them."

"That includes non-traditional marriages," he added. "When I say ‘an understanding,’ I would like people to focus on this word. We have an understanding but we are cautious because as the head of state, I must tackle the demographic problem and as everyone knows, non-traditional marriages don’t produce children," Putin said with a smile.

The president noted that discussions on monetary policy tools were underway in Russia. "In this area, non-traditional regulatory tools can be effective in certain cases," Putin admitted. "Are they applicable to our economy at this particular moment? That remains to be seen," he noted.

Putin went on to say that the Russian authorities "are keeping a close eye on developments in some countries to figure out which tools are being used and how effective they are." According to him, "many central banks do purchase government bonds." "I was told recently that the [United States’] Federal Reserve System, for instance, is buying the debt obligations of major US companies, we need to check if it’s true but in our view, it’s not the main task of financial market regulators, the Russian Central Bank included," Putin said.

In his view, "it’s relevant if there is a lack of development resources." In this regard, the Russian head of state mentioned Chile and Poland. "We can see no negative consequences so far, it’s true, we are keeping a close eye on that but Poland’s budget deficit stands at about 10%," Putin stressed, adding that Russia’s budget deficit "is half the size and is expected to halve to 2.4% next year."