“Real patriots love the Motherland without a condom.”
Russia may restrict the procurement of imported condoms for "state and municipal needs," according to documents posted on a government website Tuesday.
![Russia may restrict the procurement of imported condoms for "state and municipal needs," according to documents posted on a government website Tuesday.]()
A protest poster depicts Russian President Vladimir Putin wearing a condom on his head during a December 2011 demonstration against alleged vote rigging in the country's parliamentary elections.
Mikhail Metzel / ASSOCIATED PRESS
The proposed change would add condoms to a list first published in February of foreign-made medical supplies that the government was restricted from purchasing.
The proposal is designed to bolster Russian industry and comes at the height of a political push to promote Russian products over Western imports. Authorities are cracking down on sanctioned food imports like Italian and Spanish meat and French cheese.
Though the new proposal only concerns government purchases and would not prevent stores from selling foreign brands like Durex and Trojan to the public, comments by Gennady Onishchenko, an aide to Russia's prime minister and a former public health official, seemed to imply otherwise.
"Rubber goods (condoms) have no relation to health, it will just force people to be more disciplined, more strict and selective in their choice of partners, and maybe it will be of some service to society in terms of solving demographic problems," Onishchenko said in comments carried by RIA Novosti.
Russian Twitter seized on the news, with many interpreting the measure as a total ban on imported condoms.
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