Last Updated: Friday, 19 May 2023, 07:24 GMT

Russian factory abandons condom plans after Orthodox protests

Publisher Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Publication Date 19 December 2016
Cite as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Russian factory abandons condom plans after Orthodox protests, 19 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5975a37c10.html [accessed 21 May 2023]
DisclaimerThis is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

December 19, 2016

The factory is due to start production in 2017.The factory is due to start production in 2017.

MOSCOW – A factory that hoped to manufacture condoms in a Russian village acclaimed for its Christian heritage will forgo the contraceptives production after protests by Orthodox activists, says its managing partner.

Pavel Spichakov told local media on December 16 that the factory, owned by Bergus, will stick to making adhesive bandages and diapers, placating religious conservatives who had categorically opposed condom production.

Dozens of protesters staged a rally in Bogolyubovo last month with banners and slogans like "Mother of God, save us from desecration" and "No condom manufacturing on a holy site."

The factory is due to start production in 2017.

The planned site – about 180 kilometers northeast of Moscow in the Vladimir region – is near a monastery in Bogolyubovo, whose name is a compound of the Russian words for "God" and "lovers."

Spichakov told local news site Gubernia33 that the protests generated so much publicity for the manufacturer that it was inundated with interest from big companies at a recent business expo.

"As a result, orders for 'Lelia' diapers, which we had on display, turned out to be many times higher than expected. So we made the decision to devote more manufacturing and storage space to diapers than was earlier planned. All the rest of the space in Bogolyubovo will be taken up by adhesive bandages. There is physically no more space for condoms."

"The activists exerted influence on moving production [to another location] by virtue of the fact that they made the factory well-known and provided it with big orders for diapers," he said. "I am only grateful to them for this."

The village carries the name of 12th-century Russian Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, who built the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl, a landmark on UNESCO's World Heritage Site list.

Kirill Vasilyev, a local journalist, told RFE/RL's Russian Service that "many" of the more than a dozen people who were leading the protests against condom manufacturing "are not residents of the village of Bogolyubovo," including "many Muscovites."

The country's practicing Russian Orthodox population is thought to compose only around 15-20 percent of its 142 million or so people, although many more Russians are nonpracticing believers.

The Russian Orthodox Church permits its adherents to use condoms, while noting, however, that "the deliberate refusal to have children because of selfish urges devalues marriage and is undoubtedly a sin."

Tom Balmforth covers Russia and other former Soviet republics. He can be reached at [email protected]

Link to original story on RFE/RL website

Copyright notice: Copyright (c) 2007-2009. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036

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