The kremlin’s “Special Reproduction Operation”

Massive losses in the war against Ukraine have exacerbated russia’s demographic crisis to a critical level. The fertility rate in 2025 was 1.37 children per woman, far below the minimum required rate of 2.1. The kremlin’s response is a propaganda machine, retooled from military rhetoric to reproductive one.

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, the number of publications about having many children in russian media has increased sevenfold. Cities have been flooded with advertisements urging people to have children – not with stories about the joys of parenthood, but with manipulative “insult and persuade” tactics.

The focus is on teenage births. In regions – from altai to bryansk – starting in 2025–2026, payments ranging from 100,000 to 150,000 rubles will be introduced for pregnant schoolgirls. The slogan of a student campaign at nizhny novgorod university – “Baby, give birth!” – quickly  spread across the country via banners.

In parallel, a campaign to harass doctors was launched. The “Women for Life” Foundation organized “test purchases of abortions,” checking whether doctors were sufficiently dissuading patients from the procedure. The banner “Defend me today, and I’ll defend you tomorrow” directly equates an unborn child with a future soldier.

The essence of the official attitude to russian women is captured in the words of state duma member aleksandr ilyatyakov: “As long as the womb works– do what your earthly duty commands”.