Putin calls on Russian women to have ‘eight or even more children’ after population fell by 550,000 during first year of his war in Ukraine

Vladimir Putin is demanding that Russian women give birth to ‘seven, eight or more’ children to halt a population slump.

Warning it is impossible to solve Russia‘s ‘catastrophic demographic problems’ with more money, benefits and social payments, he urged citizens to have more children while speaking via video link at the World Russian People’s Council on Tuesday.

‘Many of our peoples maintain the tradition of the family, where four, five or more children are raised. Recall that in Russian families our grandmothers and great-grandmothers had both 7 and 8 children. Let us preserve and revive these traditions,’ Putin said.

‘Having many children, a large family, should become a norm, a way of life for all the peoples of Russia. A family is not just the foundation for state and society, it is a spiritual phenomenon, the source of morality,’ he continued.

Putin himself is believed to have at least six children, with three partners, although he only publicly admits to two daughters.

Many…