MOSCOW, September 24. /TASS/. The fine for spreading propaganda promoting voluntarily choosing not to have any children (the so-called childfree movement) may reach up to 5 million rubles (approximately $53,791) for legal entities if a relevant bill is passed, Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said.
"The fines for this violation will reach up to 400,000 rubles for citizens, up to 800,000 rubles for officials, and up to 5 million rubles for legal entities," Volodin said on his Telegram channel.
He noted that these fines were determined based on existing fines for spreading LGBT and gender reassignment propaganda.
Previously, the media reported that a package of bills aimed at prohibiting propaganda telling people not to have children spread in mass media, the Internet, movies and advertisements, as well as on administrative responsibility for such actions will be introduced to the Russian State Duma shortly. The Russian government endorsed these bills.
One of the authors of this initiative, member of the State Duma Committee on education Elvira Aitkulova told TASS that the proposed bill is in line with the president's wishes, and "is aimed at protecting children against information promoting voluntarily choosing not to have children, unrelated to medical conditions or religious beliefs." She noted that proponents of the childfree ideology "disseminate ideas about the voluntary rejection of childbearing, fostering an atmosphere for this destructive social behavior and depopulation."