Polygamy in Russia

Polygamous marriages are not recognized in the Russian Federation. The Family Code of Russia states that a marriage can only be contracted between a man and a woman, neither of whom is married to someone else.^[1] Furthermore, Russia does not recognize polygamous marriages that had been contracted in other countries.^[2] However, under Russian law, de facto polygamy or multiple cohabitation in and of itself is not a crime.^[3] Due to the shortage of men in Russia's population, it is not uncommon for men to father children with multiple women, and sometimes that results in households that are openly de facto polygamous.^[4][5]

A number of Russian politicians, including Boris Nemtsov,^[6] Vladimir Zhirinovsky,^[7] and Ramzan Kadyrov,^[8][9] as well as Moslem religious leaders such as Talgat Tadzhuddin,^[10] have advocated granting legal recognition to polygamous marriage.

In July 1999, Ruslan Aushev, at the time the president of Ingushetia, signed a decree allowing men in the republic to marry up to four wives, in accordance with the Islamic tradition. Russia's justice minister immediately criticized the regional decree as unconstitutional since it directly contradicted provisions of a federal law (the Family Code).^[11][12] Aushev's decree was struck down by the courts a year later, by which time over 15 men in Ingushetia had taken advantage of the right to officially register their marriages to multiple women.^[13]

References