February 01, 2026

Don't Worry, the City's Got It


Don't Worry, the City's Got It
City of the White Nights, lending a hand with raising kids. Paul Richardson (The Spine of Russia Project)

A new part of St. Petersburg's social code specifies that students who give birth to a child will be paid R200,000 (about $2,500) from city coffers.

The change was noted in Russian state media outlet Izvestia, citing the regulation provided by the city government.

The payment will be released to the student's family once one or more children are born. The city will also pay R100,000 (about $1,200) to students who are pregnant, no matter if they are studying full-time or part-time. And the benefits don't end there: Large families are eligible for city-sponsored tuition reimbursement at vocational or higher education institutions up to 50%.

The updates come as Russia navigates a demographic crisis. With the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, thousands of Russians fled the country. This was on top of low birthrates and a strict immigration policy, which were contributing to long-term population decline.

In response, the Russian state has been encouraging its people to have children, though some measures have been more effective than others.

You Might Also Like

Orthodox Church Rising
  • January 14, 2025

Orthodox Church Rising

The power of the ROC is growing in the government, according to independent publication Verstka.
Have Children, or Else
  • July 11, 2024

Have Children, or Else

Russian authorities are preparing bills to ban the "extremist ideology" about being child-free. 
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals
[INVALID]
[INVALID]

Some of our Books

Moscow and Muscovites
November 26, 2013

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

At the Circus
January 01, 2013

At the Circus

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.

The Little Humpbacked Horse
November 03, 2014

The Little Humpbacked Horse

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.

The Latchkey Murders
July 01, 2015

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955