Published27 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, AlamyBy Vitaly ShevchenkoRussia editor, BBC MonitoringRussian authorities are limiting access to abortions in an attempt to confront the country’s longstanding demographic crisis. Measures include making it an offence trying to persuade a woman to have an abortion and pressuring private clinics to stop carrying out the procedure.Feminist groups say the campaign is putting the lives of women at risk.The Russian Orthodox Church, which has close ties to the Kremlin, is playing a key role in the anti-abortion campaign. “As a member of the clergy, I testify that an abortion is a disaster and a tragedy for the woman those close to her,” Patriarch Kirill, the Kremlin-backed head of the church, said in January 2023.Image source, Urals Feminist Movement “Officials, ultra-right politicians and the church are actively forcing women and girls to give birth to unwanted children,” said the Urals Feminist Movement group, which has organised small-scale protests in favour of abortion rights.”These initiatives will only lead to a dramatic increase in the number of illegal abortions and a huge number of maimed and killed Russian women.”A stagnant populationRussia’s population is virtually the same size as it was over 20 years ago. According to official figures, there are now 144 million people in Russia – 2 million fewer than in 2001, when President Vladimir Putin first came to power. Religious authorities say a key factor for the demographic crisis is the high number of abortions. Almost a third of Russian women say they have had one. In 2022, more than 500,000 pregnancies were terminated, compared to 1.3 million children born in Russia. Mr Putin called it “an acute problem”. “The population can be increased as if by waving a magic wand: if we solve this problem and learn how to dissuade women from having abortions, statistics will go up immediately,” according to Patriarch Kirill.Authorities are concerned that the decreasing number of young people, particularly men, will make it more difficult for the Russian military to recruit soldiers. There are also worries about the effects of a stagnant population on the economy.Image source, Getty ImagesRussian feminists say women’s rights are being curtailed to benefit the military and economy. “They need new taxpayers, they need new soldiers,” Maria Mueller, of the Russian feminist association Ona, told the BBC. State policy of discouraging abortions The authorities are increasingly seeking to informally limit abortions, though the country’s laws remain on paper some of the most liberal in the world.The Health Ministry has dawn up guidelines telling medics how best to dissuade women from having an abortion. Doctors are encouraged to tell pregnant women who are younger than 18 that young parents bond better with their children “because they are practically from the same generation”. If a pregnant woman is single, doctors are meant to tell her that “having a child is no obstacle to finding a life partner”.In parallel, the authorities are restricting the sale of medication used to end pregnancies, sales of which increased by over 50% last year. From September 2024, pharmacies will be required to register the sale of such pills in special databases. The government is also offering financial incentives to pregnant women and those who give birth, including payments of up to 524,500 roubles (£4,680, $5,830) which can be used to purchase property or pay for schooling.A fifth of abortions in Russia are carried out in private clinics, which have come under pressure from religious authorities to stop offering the service. “As a member of the clergy, I testify that an abortion is a disaster and a tragedy for the woman and those close to her,” Patriarch Kirill said. Image source, Getty ImagesAccordingly, governors in 10 Russian regions are making efforts to stop private clinics from performing abortions.The annexed Ukrainian region of Crimea was the first territory where private clinics stopped performing abortions in early November. Days later, it was followed by the Kursk region, where four out of five private clinics no longer offer the service.Restricting access to abortions in private clinics will harm women’s health, World Health Organisation expert Lyubov Yerofeyeva told BBC Russian.The Kursk region deputy governor, Andrei Belostotsky, called this “a significant event” because almost all women wishing to terminate their pregnancy will have to go to state hospitals, where the authorities will “actively work with them” trying to make them change their mind. Bans on ‘incitement to abortion’Another initiative proposed by Patriarch Kirill and already implemented in parts of Russia is a ban on “incitement to abortion”. “We need more people. It’s an obvious fact recognised by everyone, both politicians and sociologists alike,” he told an Orthodox Church meeting. “But for this to happen you need to make real efforts,” he added.As an example, the patriarch pointed to the western region of Mordovia, which has introduced fines of up to 200,000 roubles ($2,250; £1,800) for trying to persuade a pregnant woman to have an abortion. He said such bans should be introduced across the country.Experts fear that the anti-abortion campaign will harm women’s health by discouraging safer medical abortions.”This will be a blow against medical abortions because this was the method promoted by the vast majority of private clinics. More than 80% of their procedures were medical abortions, while state hospitals mostly perform surgical ones,” the WHO’s Ms Yerofeyeva said. “Surgical abortions carry higher risks of complications, side effects and injuries. That’s why the whole world is moving away from them.”Ms Yerofeyeva also fears that the clampdown on legal abortions will trigger a spike in dangerous illegal procedures.More on this storyThe Russians snitching on colleagues and strangersPublished3 days agoRussian artist gets 7 years for anti-war messagesPublished6 days agoRussia goes back to prisons to feed its war machinePublished26 October

Published10 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, ReutersBy Vitaly ShevchenkoBBC MonitoringThe Kremlin has launched a wide-ranging campaign to force Ukrainians in occupied territories to become Russian, an investigation has found.Ukrainians are being denied healthcare and free movement unless they take up Russian citizenship, evidence suggests.The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), an alliance of public service media including the BBC, interviewed refugees for the investigation. They spoke of relentless pro-Russian propaganda in the occupied lands.One refugee from the occupied territories, Larysa, told the EBU’s Investigative Journalism Network that one of her friends was not provided with insulin for her diabetes – a key part of treatment – until she applied for a Russian passport. Another friend had to become a Russian citizen to have her broken arm treated, Larysa said. EBU Investigative Journalism NetworkPensions are not provided without Russian passports, food is not provided without Russian passports, and medical services are out of the questionLarysaUkrainian refugeeShe also spoke of other types of pressure forcing Ukrainians to assimilate as Russians. “Pensions are not provided without Russian passports, food is not provided without Russian passports, and medical services are out of the question. There are lots of checkpoints on the roads. And every time they stop you, they check your documents, and then say they will not let you through without a Russian passport next time.”So people have to obtain these papers. Because if someone, say, has cows in one village and sells milk in another, it is impossible to move between villages.”Larysa’s account of pressure to obtain Russian passports is corroborated by other refugees, such as Lyudmyla (not her real name) from the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia region.”When you go to a hospital you need to have a Russian passport. If you do not have a Russian passport, they won’t treat you. If you drive your own car and the patrol stops you, and you do not have a Russian passport, they can simply take your car away. So people are forced to obtain them. Retired people are forced to obtain Russian passports to receive pensions. It is a matter of survival.”Image source, Getty ImagesIn the past, Russia handed passports to residents of the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and later used them as part of its justification for invading Georgia in 2008.Russian curriculumBut Lyudmyla and her friend Oksana (also not her real name) say the main reason why they left their homes was because their children were being forced to study the Russian school curriculum.”We were provoked into leaving by the opening of a Russian school, and we were being forced to go there. They told us that if we did not let our children go there, they would take our children away and deprive us of our parental rights. “When you send your children to the school, you must have a Russian passport. If you do not have a Russian passport your child will have problems and you will have problems. “What kind of problems? You will be stripped of your parental rights. They will take our children away and that’s it – you will be left without children,” Lyudmyla says.Image source, EBU Investigative Journalism NetworkEarlier in 2023, Russia unveiled new schoolbooks which aim to justify its invasion of Ukraine. They falsely portray Ukraine as an aggressive state run by nationalist extremists and manipulated by the West, which allegedly uses the country as a “battering ram” against Russia.Oksana says she left also because she was afraid that her 20-year-old son would be drafted into the Russian army and forced to fight Ukrainians.PropagandaHistorian Artem Petryk was in the southern city of Kherson when it was occupied by Russians between February and November 2022. He described the Russian authorities’ concerted efforts to influence the hearts and minds of the local population.EBU Investigative Journalism NetworkThey introduced the Russian school curriculum, crucially the history course, and tried to impose Russia’s world viewArtem PetrykHistorian”From the first days of the occupation, they seized control of television and began broadcasting Russian radio. There was a stream of fakery about Ukraine and the West. It glorified the Russian army and the Russian state.”And everywhere in the city they put up billboards with portraits of Russian tsars, commanders, and there were slogans saying that Kherson is a city with a Russian history, Russia is here forever, and so on. “They tried to impose the Russian identity through the public space. They marked days of the Russian flag, days of Russia, put up billboards and, of course, tried to establish control over school. They introduced the Russian school curriculum, crucially the history course, and tried to impose Russia’s world view,” Mr Petryk says.Larysa describes Russification efforts by the occupying authorities as another weapon used by Russia.”This is the same as weapons – not the ones which shoot, but moral ones. Sometimes these moral weapons hurt harder than a machine gun. Because machine guns fire once and it’s done, but the moral ones oppress you every day. This is very hard,” Larysa says. More on this storyUkrainian teen who received call-up to Russian armyPublished5 days agoRussia goes back to prisons to feed its war machinePublished26 OctoberThe last residents of a bitterly contested Ukrainian townPublished24 October