The Soviet-era title and prize "Heroine Mother" , relaunched by President Vladimir Putin as the country grapples with the collapse in birth rates, return to Russia .

This was reported by The Moscow Times newspaper, specifying that the title of "Heroine Mother" will be awarded to women who father and raise ten or more children .

Putin signed on Monday the decree restoring the honorary title, established in 1944 for the first time by Soviet leader Josef Stalin in the wake of massive population losses during World War II. The title ceased to be awarded after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Eligible mothers will receive a one-time payment of 1 million rubles (equivalent to $ 16,000) as soon as their tenth living child turns one , according to Putin's decree. They will still be entitled to it if a child dies while in the military, in a terrorist attack or while engaged in an emergency.

The president thus thinks he is facing the demographic crisis in Russia , whose population has been declining for decades, with 145.1 million inhabitants registered - with a decline of about 400,000 people - at the beginning of 2022.

Russia's population decline rate has nearly doubled since 2021 - when the coronavirus pandemic led to the largest natural population decline since the end of the Soviet Union - and nearly tripled since 2020.

(Unioneonline / vl)

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