Kremlin crackdown: Russian children’s animal play under fire
Russian politicians and pro-government media have recently become seriously engaged with a trend considered particularly dangerous. Kwadrobika, which is gaining attention online in Russia, is described as a threat to the country. The head of the Russian Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, has announced decisive action. Work on legislation is ongoing.
15 October 2024 10:27
The danger that the Kremlin wants to combat by imposing serious legal bans is kwadrobika, a recent popular activity among children that involves dressing up as animals.
In Poland, this trend might have gone unnoticed or was simply considered a form of play when a child wears a dog or cat mask and imitates animal movements. However, Russian media is reporting serious reports about this concerning trend. Articles include discussions by specialists on how many adverse consequences this phenomenon carries.
"Quadrobics (from the Latin quattuor - 'four' and the English aerobics - 'aerobics') is an unofficial sport in which people move on all fours, mimicking animal movements, using masks and artificial tails. On the one hand, it's challenging acrobatics similar to the movements of parkour athletes, which provide an even workout for all body parts; on the other hand, it's a strange hobby that sometimes turns into inappropriate behaviour," explains the portal rbc.ru, for example.
The media is full of similar warnings. The explanation is always the same - children fall into the trap of a dangerous trend because it's a simple and accessible form of "avoidance behaviour" or "escape from reality". Russian media view it as a sign of a lack of attention and support from parents and teachers, leading to a straightforward path to disengagement from intellectual and physical development and communal activities.
Bans in Russia are the norm: The Kremlin targets children's play
According to "Gazeta Wyborcza," Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of the Duma, theoretically the fourth most important person in the state, condemned the new phenomenon on social media. He wrote that children's crawling is "dehumanising," as dangerous as "distancing from the church" or the "child-free movement" that endorses being childless.
"Today, we are at a stage where people are pushed not only towards leaving behind gender identity but also human identity. They want to try themselves as an animal," Volodin wrote on his Telegram channel.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also discussed the issue. During official talks with the Armenian representative, Ararat Mirzoyan, he asked about wardrobes. The startled Armenian replied that he had heard of them.
Member of Parliament Jana Lantratova is the author of a draft law that aims to condemn "destructive ideology" and introduce top-down bans. The proposals involve heavy fines and the automatic revocation of parental rights for parents whose children crawl, bark, or meow.
