Although ultra-conservatism has always played a major role in Russian society, particularly outside the big cities, it was granted the status of Russia's unofficial ideology in 2012, after mass protests in Moscow against Vladimir Putin's return to the Kremlin for a third term.
In a keynote speech to parliament after the pro-democracy protests had been quelled, Putin declared that social and religious conservatism were the only ways to prevent Russia and the world from slipping into what he called "chaotic darkness." In a separate speech he also accused Western countries of betraying "Christian values" and pursuing polices that "place on the same level a multi-child family and a same-sex partnership, a faith in God and a belief in Satan." [...]
This intolerance for anything that smacks of "liberal" Western values has also had serious consequences for Russia's national health, in particular its fight against a growing HIV and AIDS epidemic. Almost one million Russians are registered as having contracted HIV, out of a population of 143 million people, an almost twofold increase from 2010. Officials predict that up to three million Russians will be living with the virus by 2020. [...]
In August, Putin appointed Olga Vasilyeva, a religious scholar with deep ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, as education minister. One of her first acts as minister was to visit the Russian Orthodox Church's powerful head, Patriarch Kirill, to seek his blessing for her appointment. Vasilyeva is not only an Orthodox believer, however: She has also previously praised Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator who sent millions to their deaths in the gulags.
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