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Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the “partial mobilization” of 300,000 reservists in September.
Russian soldiers called up to fight in Ukraine will be able to store frozen sperm in a cryobank for free, according to a prominent Russian lawyer.
Russian Bar Association head Igor Trunov told state news agency Tass that the Health Ministry responded to his call for a free cryobank and changes to compulsory medical insurance .
Russia has mobilized 300,000 reservists after a series of failures in Ukraine.
The men then began going to clinics to have their sperm frozen, according to reports.
Mr Trunov announced on Twitter that his union was submitting a request on behalf of several couples whose husbands had been called up to take part in the Special Military Operation (SVO) – the term used by Russia for its war in Ukraine.
The Department of Health has yet to comment on Mr Trunov’s remarks and the lawyer told the BBC his union should follow up with the department.
He told Tass that the ministry had “determined the possibility of financial support from the federal budget for the free conservation and storage of germ cells (sperm) for citizens mobilized to participate in the OVA for 2022-2024”.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February with up to 200,000 troops. It not only lost more than half of the territory it occupied during the initial phase of the war, but suffered casualties numbering in the tens of thousands.
In September, President Vladimir Putin announced a “partial mobilization”, and the casualties kept mounting. More than 250,000 Russian men have fled the country to avoid military service.
In the days following the call, the Fontanka website in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, reported an increase in the number of men coming to in vitro fertilization and fertility clinics. to have their sperm frozen and to draw up documents authorizing their wives to use it.
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Andrei Ivanov, of the city’s Mariinsky Hospital, said men preparing for military service had come forward, as well as those planning to leave Russia.
Russian men and women rarely turn to clinics ‘just in case’ something goes wrong, Fontanka said, and they had never considered freezing their biomaterial before.
However, this solution meant that if a man died – or lost the ability to reproduce – he would still be able to have children.
In recent weeks, the initial surge in the number of men showing up at reproductive clinics appears to have subsided.
A Moscow clinic contacted by the BBC said it doubted any biomaterial stockpile quotas could be promised, as they would have all been agreed for 2023.
War in Ukraine: Russian troops can freeze their sperm for free – lawyer – BBC News BBC Homepage