September 14, 2025

A Civic Duty?


A Civic Duty?
Aleksei Tsydenov, head of Buryatia. Russian state outlet Izvestia.

On September 11, Alexei Tsydenov, head of the autonomous Russian republic of Buryatia, opened a kindergarten in a somewhat non-kid-friendly way.

After remarking that the kindergarten has room for 280 little pupils, Tsydenov urged citizens to "ensure that the kindergarten is always full of children. Men, take your wives in your arms and carry them to the bedroom."

He finished his remarks by saying, "We're working," possibly a reference to his own four children. He also thanked the teachers and builders of the school.

Tsydenov's concern that there may be too few children to fill a new kindergarten is not unfounded. Russia has an infamously low birthrate and an aging population that is not helped by its ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine and its economic effects.

While the leader's call to procreate is significantly more explicit than most, it is in line with other state-sponsored efforts to encourage Russians to have more babies. Earlier this year, a pink billboard in Moscow, sponsored by the city's Department of Health, asked women, "How are you? Still haven't given birth yet?"

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