The 68-year-old, who has two grown daughters himself, decreed that the day is celebrated on the third Sunday in October, according to the Kremlin. With the day, the family should be consolidated as an institution and especially the role of men in raising children should be honored, it said.
The decree on Father’s Day came into force when it was signed on Monday and should therefore be celebrated for the first time on October 17th. The state agency Ria Novosti published a well-filled beer glass to the news in its Telegram channel Kremlinpool. In Austria, Father’s Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in June, but Father’s Day is not a public holiday.
There are already a number of public holidays for men in Russia – such as Defender of the Fatherland Day. Putin’s predecessor Boris Yeltsin also introduced a Mother’s Day in 1998 by decree. After more than two decades in power, Putin decided to add an equal day for fathers to Mother’s Day, which was founded 23 years ago.
Mother’s Day in Russia is the last Sunday in November. There is also Women’s Day on March 8th, which is non-working in Russia. Putin had enshrined in the constitution that he would only accept marriage as an alliance between a man and a woman. Other forms of families with one parent are not tolerated in Russia or, according to human rights activists, are sometimes even persecuted. Many same-sex couples have left the country for fear that their children will be stolen from them.
