Russian soldiers, who are fighting the war against Ukraine, can now store their frozen sperm in a cryobank for free, head of Russian Bar Association Igor Trunov has said, according to BBC.
Quoting the top lawyer, Russian news agency Tass reported that the nation’s health ministry has made the decision, responding to his calls for a free cryobank and changes to the compulsory health insurance. Russia has mobilized 3,00,000 soldiers from its reserve force in Ukraine after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s army successfully pushed back the Kremlin’s advance on several fronts.
As more and more soldiers began to get calls to join Russia’s “special military operation in Ukraine”, couples began approaching clinics to find ways to have sperms frozen. This would enable their wives to have their children in case they die at war.
Trunov’s Twitter handle on Wednesday posted in Russian which roughly translates to: “Attorney Trunov announced the possibility for the families of the mobilized to receive a free quote for the treatment of infertility and the storage of biomaterial in a cryobank. Here is the treatment of some couples, who are called on SVO for mobilization.”
He said that his union would apply on behalf of several couples where the husband had been called up for the war.
The Russian health ministry is yet to confirm Trunov’s claims. However, the attorney was quoted as saying by TASS: “The Russian government had determined the possibility of financial support from the federal budget for free conservation and storage of germ cells (spermatozoa) for citizens mobilised to take part in the SVO for 2022-2024.”
The Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24 this year. It gained a lot of ground initially, capturing several areas and looked to be near the capital city of Kyiv. However, of late it has lost many of the areas and has suffered heavy losses as well, according to reports.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in September announced “partial mobilisation” as casualties continued to rise. According to BBC, this prompted more than 2,50,000 Russian men to flee the country to avoid the draft.
Soon, St Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, reported a surge in men enquiring costs and facilities for IVF and fertility clinics to have their sperm frozen and prepare documents, entitling their wives to use it. The BBC quoted Andrei Ivanov from the city’s Mariinsky Hospital saying that men even those preparing to flee the draft were enquiring for the same.
According to Russian Website Fontanka, Russians never considered freezing their biomaterial.
Russian men and women rarely use the clinics “just in case” something went wrong, Fontanka reported, and they had never considered freezing their biomaterial before.