The Russian Orthodox Church responded to LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who suggested in a live TV program to control the birth rate in the North Caucasus to combat terrorism.
The head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin said that nations have the right to develop independently and plan as many children as they see fit.
The priest also said that the Church was maintaining dialogue with Russian political forces, including the Liberal Democratic Party, but that did not mean, Chaplin said, that the clergy should agree with all statements that representatives of state power may make.
The archpriest is convinced that despite the fact that the migration problem has been a very serious one in the society recent,y people's indignation should not lead to the consolidation of "fruitless populist radicalism."