Large families should be the norm – Putin

Families with many children should become a dominant trend in modern Russia, President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday, insisting that achieving this goal should become the government’s utmost priority.

Speaking at the World Russian People’s Council – a forum organized under the auspices of the Russian Orthodox Church – to discuss the country’s future, Putin placed special emphasis on the importance of family values.

“Large families must become the norm, a way of life for all of Russia’s peoples,” he said, describing the family not only as the pillar on which the state and society stand, but also as “a source of morality.”

Putin went on to recall that many ethnic groups in Russia have maintained the tradition of having “multigenerational families” with at least four or five children. “Russian families, many of our…