My headline.
[KavkazUzel] A ceremonial wedding of a 13-year-old girl and an eight-year-old boy from a Roma family took place in Astrakhan. Representatives of the region's security forces said that the ceremony was symbolic, but Telegram users still criticized the event.
Footage of a wedding in one of the restaurants in Astrakhan has been circulated online. The event was organized by the local Roma community, the newlyweds are children aged eight and thirteen. In the footage, published, in particular, on the Telegram channel "Astrakhan News Today", it is clear that the children are somewhat confused, especially the boy, who seems not to understand what is happening at all.
The event was operated by a well-known wedding operator in Astrakhan, who often films gypsy weddings. It turned out that the wedding in question took place in the summer of 2024, but the event was only made public now. The children were allegedly married right in the restaurant, since registering their marriage is contrary to Russian law, Astrakhan Today reports.
The information about the wedding that appeared on January 23 was responded to by the chairperson of the State Duma Committee on Family Protection, Fatherhood, Motherhood and Childhood Nina Ostanina. She stated that it is necessary to raise the issue of raising children in Roma communities, RIA Novosti writes.
"It seems to me that it is enough to be timid in front of national traditions, which, unfortunately, for some reason are becoming higher than our laws," the publication quotes her as saying.
Ostanina noted that the tradition of creating families from young children is harmful for three reasons - children are deprived of their childhood, cannot get an education, and such weddings do not comply with the laws of the Russian Federation. "We punish parents in non-Gypsy families if they do not raise their children properly. Why do we experience any problems here?" she wonders.
The deputy, however, noted that no one had broken the law in this case, but it was necessary to punish the parents who were depriving the younger generation of the opportunity to receive an education and enjoy childhood. "Where is the children's rights commissioner who should immediately respond to this situation?" she asked.
A representative of the Russian Interior Ministry for the Astrakhan Region stated on January 24 that the wedding ritual between the children was symbolic. According to him, "as a result of the investigation into the circumstances of the wedding ritual between the minors in Astrakhan, it was established that it was symbolic and was not an official marriage registration," Lenta.ru writes.
The agency representative clarified that the children live separately from their parents and will officially formalize their relationship only after reaching the age established by law.
Social media users, however, criticized both the event itself and the police response to it. "For the 'symbolic' wedding of minors, give their parents a symbolic sentence," suggested Dmitry Barsukov, a user of the Astrakhan and AO News Telegram channel.
"Is there any way to control them?" Alexey asks.
"The law must be one and for everyone, without exceptions. Otherwise, it is not a law and the country is not a country," Aleksei Ya is sure.
"And they don't go to school. And they don't serve in the army. And they don't pay taxes. And they give birth at 16. And others are punished for this," White Astra noted.
"I hope our governor will congratulate the young people, wish them more children and a long, happy life. Demography is on the march," Georgy Vasin jokes in the "Astrakhan News Today" chat.
The author of the blog "BERG...man Tbilisi" commented on the underage wedding on the "Caucasian Knot".
"It's not about the Astrakhan region, and it's unlikely that Nina Ostanina only learned today that people of the Gypsy nationality live in Russia and elsewhere - by their own laws, and often a significant part of them don't care about the rules. Because the government either "takes a bribe" or is so indifferent to the Gypsies that they have long since given up on them," he wrote on January 24 in the publication "Children's Wedding" in Astrakhan. - "And what about the Gypsies, for whom the law does not apply?"
Earlier, the "Caucasian Knot" wrote that in August 2024, Ilovlya resident Mikhail Zazulin published a video message to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Investigative Committee Chairman Alexander Bastrykin on social media. In the message, he spoke about a two-month conflict between his large family and their neighbors, a Roma family. According to Zazulin, the conflict culminated in an attack by members of the Roma family and their friends on his home.
On August 14, the heads of the Roma families of Ilovlya, after a meeting with the authorities and security forces, apologized to the residents of the village and promised to keep an eye on the youth. On October 10, an attack on police officers was recorded in Ilovlya, security forces reported, and later they announced the arrest of two suspects. The Ilovlinsky District Court remanded the third suspect in the attack on security forces in Ilovlya, who went into hiding after the incident, until December 10.
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Astrakhan: 2025-01-24 In Astrakhan, gypsies married an 8-year-old groom to a 13-year-old girl on a grand scale
Astrakhan: 2025-01-06 Journalists and civilians remain priority targets for the Ukrainian Armed Forces
Astrakhan: 2024-12-28 Current information on the situation on the front line: December 27 (updated)