The Kremlin is clamping down on “propaganda” portraying child-free life as “attractive” in bid to tackle Russia’s birth-rate woes.

Laws that ban material on the internet, advertising and the media discouraging the nation’s citizens from starting families cleared their first hurdle in the lower house of parliament on Thursday.

They gained unanimous approval from lawmakers, The Guardian reports. The bill will have to pass through a further two readings in the Duma, though, before it can be enforced.

Offenders under the legislation will be subject to fines, according to reports. It comes after official figures published last month showed around 599,600 children being born in Russia in the first half of this year. This is 16,000 fewer than in the same period in 2023.

According to the data, released by statistics service Rosstat, the number of births was the lowest since 1999. In June, the number of newborns dropped six percent, to 98,600, marking the first time the number has dropped below 100,000, according to Russian media.

Elvira Aitkulova, one of the authors of the bill, said what authorities brand the “child-free movement” is “an element of professional propaganda, part of a hybrid war aimed at population reduction”.

“This is a strategic bill for the sake of a strong, productive and healthy future,” she claimed. Concerns in Moscow about Russia’s population challenges have even seen Russian President Vladimir Putin directly encouraging the public to have larger families, with women urged to have “many children”.

Speaking during the fourth annual Eurasian Women’s Forum last month, the 72-year-old said: “Russia is traditionally respectful of women.

“In this regard, our state policy relies on the National Strategy of Action in the Interests of Women,” according to a transcript published by Russian state media.

“Several initiatives have been put forward toward this end, and proper conditions are being created for women to succeed professionally while remaining guardians of the hearth and lynchpins of large families with many children,” he added.

Days before, Putin’s health minister urged Russians to have sex during work breaks to counteract the long-term decline of the country’s fertility rates.

The continued downturn in births comes as Russia continues to suffer heavy losses in its invasion of Ukraine which began on February 2022.

Last month data analysed by the BBC suggested that some 70,000 people fighting in Russia’s military had lost their lives in Ukraine. Russia’s own count of losses on the battlefield are a closely guarded secret.