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Russian Lawmaker Tells Citizens Not to Have Sex with World Cup Tourists

Tamara Pletnyova also doesn't want people having sex outside of their race. "We should give birth to our own children."
Photo by Time Groothuis—USA TODAY Sports

Russia is off to a fine start hosting the World Cup this summer. The opening ceremonies are playing out this morning, but were preceded by a shocking statement from the head of Russia's Family, Women, and Children Committee in the lower house of parliament, Tamara Pletnyova yesterday. Concerned about the risk of single parent families and mixed-race children, she advised Russians to straight up not have sex with foreigners, per The Independent.

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During a radio appearance on Wednesday, Pletnyova implied that the World Cup poses a substantial risk to…children that have not yet been conceived.

"There will be girls who meet men, and then they will give birth," Pletnyova said via translation. "Maybe they will get married, maybe they won't. But the kids will suffer, just like they suffered [after the Moscow Olympics]."

"It's the children who suffer and have suffered since the Soviet era."

Riiiiight. So instead of promoting, I dunno, safe sex (she didn't once mention the use of condoms), this woman—who is in charge of "Family" life in Russia—wants people to keep it in their pants. Because abstinence always works "in theory."

And just when you thought the nationalism wasn't loaded enough, Pletnyova removed all doubt of what she was getting at.

“It is one thing if the parents are of the same race; quite another if they are of different races,” she said. “We should give birth to our own children.”

Good lord. Just last month, the Russian Football Union was already fined $30,000 for fans hurling racist monkey chants at black players during a friendly against France. And, two days ago, the European anti-racism watchdog FARE cautioned that racism and homophobia in the country made the Russian World Cup a "difficult environment." Fittingly, a black player from England, Danny Rose, asked his family not to come watch him play because the racism would be unbearable. And they might not get a chance to see him play in another World Cup.

But, you know, let's bring the world together in harmony to unite around the sport, or whatever.