Putin Advocates for Underage Marriage

Russia's dictator, Vladimir Putin, calls for underage marriage.

The people of the Caucasus have a very good tradition of marrying off their

children at a fairly early age. We should follow their example.

Russian law in some regions allows marriage as early as 14.

Most of them do not specify a minimum age at all.

Kadyrov married off his 17-year-old son to the 14-year-old

granddaughter of a man believed to be his cousin.

His other son got married when he was 17, too.

Kadyrov himself had many underage wives.

Many of them were not of a legal age.

He also once allowed a 57-year-old local police official to forcibly

marry an underage girl 40 years younger.

The man already had another wife and children who

were older than his second wife.

Ramzan Kadyrov has a large family with lots of kids.

They marry at a fairly early age. He said, "This is our tradition in the

Caucasus. That's great."

Such traditions involve marrying girls off as gifts.

Some are even killed if they refuse to marry against their

will.

They are being kidnapped and suffer from physical and sexual abuse.

Promoting the abuse of young women and forced children's marriage

is a violation

of human rights.

Are these traditional values some people praise?