Family Law in the 21st Century: Institutions and Values

A strong family is the basis for a strong state. Families not only offer the most valuable thing – life – but are crucial to the healthy upbringing of a child and personal development. They shape a person’s future success, and act as a link between an individual, society, and the state. They promote moral values and that which is most important in life. In Russia, traditional family values serve as the foundation for the successful development of the entire country. They provide the key to a healthy society guided by a strong moral and spiritual compass. And indeed, this is why spiritual and moral values form the basis of domestic policy in the country, with education, and preserving and strengthening the institution of the family (as it is commonly understood) at the fore. Russia is pursuing a consistent policy to support the traditional family and promote legal initiatives aimed at incorporating traditional values into the normative social order. This position is reflected in a number of regulatory documents, including the Concept for State Family Policy to 2025 (approved by Russian Government Decree No. 1618-r dated 25 August 2014), the new text of the Constitution of the Russian Federation dated 4 July 2020, and the 2021 National Security Strategy (approved by Russian Presidential Decree No. 400 dated 2 July 2021). In each of these documents, the promotion of traditional values was set out as a key priority and the basis for strengthening national sovereignty. This kind of state-level support for traditional family values serves as an example and buttress for other nations – particularly those intending to follow their own ideological pathway to further development and to defend universal human values.
• Strengthening traditional spiritual and moral values, and preserving the cultural and historical heritage of the peoples of the Russian Federation.
• The development of a safe information space, and tackling influences considered psychologically destructive to the formation of family values.
• Not the norm: minorities and transgender people.
• Supporting the interests of Russian families abroad in the context of today’s international agenda.
• Addressing issues related to the collection of child support payments.