Russia Will Protect Its Children From Western-Style Spiritual 'Degradation, Degeneration': Putin

The president made the comments in the course of Tuesday’s address to the Federal Assembly – a speech to lawmakers which focused on the crisis in ties between Moscow and the West – and the ongoing Russia-NATO proxy conflict in Ukraine.

The West is waging an aggressive information and culture war against Russia, and Moscow cannot allow its young people to fall victim to the kind of spiritual “degradation and degeneration” that has already befallen many Western countries, President Vladimir Putin has said.

“They can’t help but realize that it’s not possible to defeat Russia on the battlefield, and so they are carrying out ever-more aggressive information attacks against us. The chosen target is, first and foremost, our young people, the younger generations. And here again they lie constantly, distort historical facts, engage in non-stop attacks on our culture, on the Russian Orthodox Church, and other traditional religious organizations of our country,” Putin said during his speech to the Federal Assembly on Tuesday.

“Look at what they’re doing to their own peoples: the destruction of the family, of cultural and national identity, perversions and abuses against children, up to pedophilia, are declared to the norm, the norm of their lives, while clergymen and priests are forced to bless same-sex marriages,” Putin said.

The president emphasized that in Russia the position on gay rights is and has always been that consenting adults have the right to live their lives as they like, and the government cannot intrude on someone’s private life.

“But I would like to tell them: look, please forgive me, to the holy scriptures – the main texts of all of the world’s religions. Everything is explained there, including that a family is the union of a man and a woman. But even these holy texts are now being questioned. The Anglican Church, for example, now plans (and for now only plans) to consider the idea of a gender-neutral God. What can we say here? ‘Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing’,” Putin said, quoting a verse from the Bible.

According to the Russian president, “millions of people in the West” have come to “understand that they are being led to a real spiritual catastrophe,” with their elites “seemingly going mad, and it seems there is no cure.”

These are “their problems” and Russia will not interfere in other countries’ affairs, but “we are obliged to protect our own children –and we will do so: we will protect our children from degradation and degeneration,” Putin said.

Russia Won’t Resort to Witch Hunts

Putin further suggested that in the current time of crisis, the West is doing everything possible to try to “undermine and split apart our society,” staking their bets on a small number of traitors ready and willing to sell the “poison of contempt for their fatherland” to the highest bidder.

“Those who have embarked on the path of direct betrayal – committing terrorist acts or other crimes against our society and the territorial integrity of our country, will be held liable under the law. But we will never be like the Kiev regime and Western elites, who have engaged in witch hunts. We won’t settle scores with those who stepped to one side and retreated from the motherland. Let that remain on their conscience, let them live with their choice. The main thing is that the people, the citizens of Russia have given them a moral evaluation,” Putin said, referring to the hundreds of thousands of Russian nationals, including many pop stars, yuppie urban professionals, and others who have left the country since the start of the crisis in Ukraine and partial mobilization in Russia.

Putin expressed pride that the “vast majority” of Russia’s multinational community of peoples has shown understanding and support for the special operation and Moscow’s effort to protect the Donbass.

Putin’s comments on religious, family and LGBTQ+ issues have long been a staple of his presidency, and he has become associated both at home and abroad with the defense of traditional values and culture, and opposition to neoliberal “de-sovereignization” of nations and cultures.