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Russian Lawmaker Worries Domestic Violence Protections Could Scare Men Away From Marriage
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A senior Russian lawmaker has argued that a proposed domestic violence law would deter men from marriage, a claim that drew a public backlash from women who vowed not to wed until such legislation passes, according to The Moscow Times on July 17.
The clash pits women's safety against the Kremlin's "traditional values" campaign, and lands eight years after Russia decriminalized first-time domestic violence causing "minor harm" in 2017.
Repeated efforts by activists and opposition lawmakers to restore protections have failed since.
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The debate reignited last month after the New People's Party introduced a bill criminalizing domestic abuse, a proposal that could also appeal to voters ahead of September's parliamentary elections.
Nina Ostanina, who chairs the State Duma's Family, Women and Children Committee, opposed it.
Ostanina warned that "any physical contact with a wife at home" could be treated as assault under what she called women's "impulsive complaints" to police. She noted that eight out of every ten marriages in Russia already end in divorce, and questioned whether the law would further discourage couples from marrying.
The remarks drew a wave of criticism online. "No decent man will be scared away from marriage," blogger Farida Shirinova, who has 659,000 Instagram followers, told viewers, vowing women would refuse to wed until the measure passes.
Maria Golovinskaya, addressing 2.8 million followers, argued that only men who beat women have reason to fear such a law.
The backlash also focused on Ostanina personally. Critics pointed to the fact that her son was convicted of murder in 2012, while New People lawmaker Ksenia Goryacheva argued that protecting women should take precedence over preserving marriage statistics.
“A thousand women killed every year by their husbands is considered a smaller problem than a hypothetical thousand marriages that never happen?” Goryacheva stated. Ostanina has since filed a defamation lawsuit against her.
Amid the backlash, she proposed this week that the Supreme Court restore criminal liability for first-time assaults against family members. A 2024 survey by the independent pollster Russian Field found about 90% of respondents supported criminal penalties for domestic violence.
The push to promote so-called "traditional values" has intensified since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with officials pressing citizens to marry young and raise larger families.
Earlier, Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko urged Russians to have at least three children before age 35, as the country confronts its worst demographic decline in modern history.
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