FOCUS – As part of his fight against the demographic crisis that has affected Russia for several decades, Vladimir Putin reinstated the honorary title of “mother heroine”, established during the Second World War and then abandoned at the fall of the USSR.
For 30 years, the observation has not changed: the demography of Russia is in free fall. In an attempt to curb it, Putin restored on August 15 the title of “heroine mothera Soviet-era award given to women who have given birth to ten or more children. This honorary title is accompanied by a payment of one million rubles (about 15,600 euros), a considerable sum in a country where the median salary is 360 euros.
Reward under conditions
This distinction was originally created under Joseph Stalin in 1944 to make up for the massive population losses due to World War II. It is accompanied by a medal and elevates the women who benefit from it to the same status as the holders of the prestigious titles of “Heroes of the Russian Federation» et «Labor hero.»
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This title is awarded on the first birthday of the last child, provided that the other nine (natural or adopted) have remained alive. Children who perished in heroic, military or other notable circumstances, including occupational diseases, are also counted. More than 400,000 women were decorated before the disappearance of the title of “heroine motherto the fall of the USSR in 1991.
A decision that is part of a broader pronatalist policy
As soon as he came to power in 2000, Vladimir Putin, for whom a large population is synonymous with power, made population growth one of his priorities. It has thus initiated an important pronatalist policy based on the modernization of hospitals, the improvement of the supply of care, or the establishment of financial aid programs for parents. The reinstatement of the title ofheroine mothersinto a new stone brought to this edifice.
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However, the measure risks remaining purely symbolic. Today’s population of childbearing age is that which was born during the post-Cold War era, when the death rate greatly exceeded the birth rate, resulting in a declining population. Today, there are too few of them to reconnect with population growth. Especially since Russia is faced with the flight of this same age category. “Many Russians – first and foremost young entrepreneurs in their 30s – move to other countries to earn more money and have a better life.», explains Bernard Lecomte, historian specializing in the USSR and author of «KGB, the true story of the Soviet secret services.»
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Demography, the hidden issue of the war in Ukraine?
In the eyes of the master of the Kremlin, the invasion of Ukraine, with a population of 44 million, was to make it possible to fight against the demographic decline of his country. “Putin says he wants to ‘de-Ukrainize’ Ukraine, but above all he wants to ‘Russianize’ it. In the occupied territories, we take little Ukrainians and turn them into little Russians,” analyzes Bernard Lecomte. The objective of the war is not only territorial, it is demographic.
During its last census, Russia also counted the 2.4 million inhabitants of the separatist republics of Donbass, under the influence of Moscow since 2014.It’s Putin’s imperial policy, he doesn’t want Ukraine to join the West because he wants it to take part in his flagship device “russkimir”, literally meaning “the Russian world”,continues the specialist.
The trauma of past wars
For Bernard Lecomte, “valuing mothers is also a tool of information warfare.In the 1980s, at the time of the war in Afghanistan, mothers of soldiers took to the streets to protest against a military system blindly leading thousands of young Russians to their deaths. “They realized that this war was killing their children.Today, with the war in Ukraine, Putin fears the resurgence of these protests, which may explain the reintroduction of the honorary title of “mother heroine”. “They are the counter-symbol of the mothers of soldiers who represented the main opposition at the timeconcludes Bernard Lecompte.
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