Vladimir Putin to offer all Russians one week extra annual leave a year for insane reason

Vladimir Putin's wish to reverse Russia's falling birth rates could lead to a remarkable scheme (Image: Getty)

Vladimir Putin is said to be weighing up an unbelievable plan to give Russian workers one week of paid leave a year to procreate. The scheme was proposed by Kremlin-loyal MP Georgy Arapov who is calling for an annual “demographic week” to meet the Russian President’s demands to reverse the country’s shrinking population.

The Kremlin’s labour ministry is reportedly considering the ‘sex week’ proposal, with Russia looking to boost its fertility rate whilst continuing to suffer casualties in Ukraine. Mr Aparov, who is Russia’s youngest MP at 25 years old, said: “For many citizens it would be a rare opportunity to stop, breathe out, recover from stress and come to that internal state that doctors and psychologists call optimal for making a decision to have a child. For single people interested in starting a family, such a week could be used for meeting people and building serious relationships.”

The Kremlin wants to halt Russia's shrinking population (Image: Getty)

Mr Aparov — who urged the Kremlin’s labour minister to launch a feasibility study into the suggestion — said Russia’s fertility rate has sunk to 1.41 children per woman.

One factor is Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine where the UK estimates Russia has suffered more than 950,000 casualties.

The conflict has not been mentioned as a factor in the declining birth rates by Mr Putin’s supporters who have instead offered different proposals to resolve the crisis.

Russia's labour ministry is reportedly considering the outlandish proposal (Image: Getty)

Meanwhile, a pro-Putin archpriest made his own suggestion to help tackle the fertility rates.

Andrei Tkachev, a 55-year-old Orthodox cleric, proposed introducing a tax on men who fail to father children, saying: “A childlessness tax shouldn't be big, but it should be symbolic so that you're stigmatised with it, like ‘Why didn’t you father a single child by 40?’”

He asked: “Who are these men, aged 40 and without a single child - who are they?”

“This is some special category of human drones, who…didn’t you know a woman, have you never been intimate with a woman in 40 years of your life?

“And if you've had many women, why haven't you made a single woman your wife?

“Why haven't any of them given birth for you?

“Why haven't you taken responsibility for them? Why haven't you become a father and husband?

“You've just slept with them, and lived like a drone!”

He continued his rant by questioning whether men who reach the age of 45 without children are “castrated” or “sick”.

Mr Putin’s wish to reverse Russia’s falling birthrate has led to other wacky proposals, including setting up a Ministry of Sex to oversee different initiatives.

One suggestion made was to turn off the internet and lights between 10pm and 2am to encourage couples to have sex.

Another suggestion was the state paying for first dates, up to a value of £40.

Many regions in Russia are producing their own plans to encourage couples to have children.

Female students aged 18-23 in Khabarovsk region are to be paid £900 on the birth of a child under a new initiative, while students in Chelyabinsk can receive £8,500 for the birth of their first child.