'Polygamy will grow population'

2006-01-17 09:15

Grozny - Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov on Monday put forward polygamy as a solution to the diminishing population in his Caucasus republic, and perhaps for the whole of Russia.

"After the armed conflicts in Chechnya, there are 10% more women than men in the republic," said Chechnya's interim prime minister and head of pro-Russian militia forces.

"In our republic, there are men who have two or three wives. If the men have the means to support two or three wives, why not?" said Kadyrov.

Kadyrov said that since Chechens are Muslims, religious (sharia) law allows them to have up to four wives, but that this was the personal decision of each Chechen and Russian and not something to be imposed by law.

"Myself, for the moment, I have only one wife," he added.

Polygamy is an unwritten law in the Russian Caucasus republics and has become more popular since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991.

There are no figures for multiple marriages blessed by imams, which have no legal standing.

Polygamy is mainly failing to develop for economic reasons, not for fears of penalties.

Ultra-nationalist Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky supports the legal introduction of polygamy.

Ruslan Auchev, former president of the republic of Ingushetia, bordering Chechnya, authorised Ingush men in 1999 to have up to four wives.

But the local parliament voted to annul the measure in 2001 at the request of Moscow, which said that it went against the constitution and the Russian family code.

Russia lost six million inhabitants after the fall of the Soviet Union. It currently has a decreasing population of 143 million.

- AFP