Vladimir Putin gets pugnacious about prophylactics as Russia bans foreign condom imports
It seems Vladimir Putin is getting serious about sex, after he rubber-stamped a new rule banning foreign condom imports.
Yep – despite the fact that the number of people infected with HIV in Russia almost doubled from 500,000 to 930,000 between 2010 and 2014, Putin has added prophylactics to a list of banned foreign foreign imports, which also includes x-ray machines, ultrasound machines and incubators.
Russian former chief sanitary inspector Gennady Onishchenko reckons that, far from this being bad for amorous Russians, the new ban will "simply make one more disciplined, more strict and discriminating in choosing partners".
But choices are about to become seriously limited for protection-conscious Russians. Local-made condoms are notoriously useless.
Still, Onischschenko thinks the ban may solve one problem.
"[It will] maybe do a favour to our society in respect to solving demographic problems," he told Russian news agency RIA Novosti, referring to Russia's birth rate, which has shown a modest fall since 2012.