A member of parliament in Russia on Wednesday asked the country’s women not to have sex with foreign fans arriving for the World Cup as they would risk becoming single mothers to mixed-race children, Reuters reported.
The head of the Russian parliament’s committee for families, women and children Tamara Pletnyova said having the children of non-Russians could lead to broken families. The legislator claimed that even if the relationships lead to marriage, women or their children would have to settle down abroad to keep the family together.
“Even if they get married, they will take them away, then she does not know how to get back,” Pletnyova said during a radio interview, according to The Telegraph. “Then they come to me in the committee, girls crying that their baby was taken away, was taken and so on.”
Pletnyova said children of mixed races face discrimination and have been suffering since the Soviet era. “It is one thing if they are of the same race but quite another if they are of a different race,” she added. “I am not a nationalist, but nevertheless I know that children suffer. They are abandoned, and that’s it, they stay here with mum.”
Another lawmaker, Alexander Sherin, said foreign fans could bring viruses to the World Cup and infect Russians, Reuters reported. Foreigners might try to circulate banned substances at the tournament, he added.
More than one million international tourists are expected to visit Russia during the World Cup in Russia between June 14 and July 15.
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