Now, 18 years after it was discontinued, Russia has revived itspolicy of rewarding fertility in an attempt to reverse a potentiallydisastrous demographic decline.
To great fanfare, broadcast liveon state television, President Dmitry Medvedev brought eight familiesinto the gilded halls of the Kremlin and presented them with theblue-ribboned silver star of the Order of Parental Glory.
“Youare setting an example for all society and you continue the traditionof parental service which has been customary in our country forcenturies,” Mr Medvedev told the gathering.
A sharp fall inbirthrates, combined with increasing poor health, has prompted ademographic collapse which the United Nations predicts could reduce thepopulation from 146 million today to just 80 million by 2050 – a fallin numbers which could also spell social and economic disaster.
Some, like the Maximov family from the eastern region of Yakutia,came in traditional Siberian dress. Others wore military uniforms andpriestly garb.
Nikolai Levyokin, 37, was chosen to represent theMoscow region. He and his wife, Ksenia, have six children, aged one to13. He said the ceremony left him – and his children – nervous butproud. “We’re doing this not only to lift Russia’s demographics, but tolift the status of Russia itself,” he told The Sunday Telegraph.
MrLevyokin said his children were at first sad to learn that the primeminister, Vladimir Putin, who left the presidency in May, would not bethe one presenting the award. “Then they saw Medvedev’s smiling faceand realised he’s a good president too,” he said.