A Russian nuclear scientist with close ties to President Vladimir Putin has claimed that the West is deliberately using the so-called “LGBT agenda,” childfree advocacy, and biological warfare to reduce the global population.
Mikhail Kovalchuk, head of Russia’s prestigious Kurchatov Institute for Nuclear Research and a reported long-time friend of Putin, made the remarks at a Kremlin-backed forum attended by around 1,000 Moscow schoolteachers, with a further 325,000 people watching via livestream, according to The Times.
Kovalchuk alleged that advances in technology have made “a huge number of people unnecessary,” leading Western nations to seek ways to cut population numbers.
“They introduced the LGBT agenda and for those who didn’t go along with it, they offered a second option — the child-free family,” he said. “It’s working brilliantly. In a generation or two, there’ll be no continuation of their bloodlines. Only a small elite, the ones they actually need, will remain.”
He went further, suggesting that those outside this “elite” would eventually be wiped out using biological weapons.
“A virus or something like that with a 90 per cent mortality rate will come along and mow them down,” he told the audience.
Russia’s Crackdown on LGBTQ+ Rights
Kovalchuk’s comments come amid an escalating campaign against LGBTQ+ rights in Russia.
Putin signed the country’s first so-called “gay propaganda” law in 2013, banning public discussion or representation of “nontraditional sexual relationships.” The legislation has since been used to silence activists, dissolve organisations, shut down websites, and intimidate families and educators.
The law has been widely condemned by human rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as well as the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
In December 2022, Putin expanded the ban to outlaw any public expression of LGBTQ+ life, covering media, books, films, advertising, and online content.
Most recently, in November 2023, Russia’s Supreme Court — acting on a request from the Ministry of Justice — declared the international LGBTQ+ movement an “extremist organisation.” This ruling has been followed by raids on queer bars and venues, and has forced most Russian LGBTQ+ organisations underground.
A History of Conspiracy Theories
Kovalchuk has previously promoted wild claims, including the existence of bioweapons engineered to target Russians and even the creation of a human subspecies with “limited self-awareness” to act as servants, according to independent outlet Meduza.
He is also said to be “obsessed with immortality” and the so-called “Russian genome.” Sources claim he influenced Putin’s decision to fund the nation’s New Health Preservation Technologies project, announced last year, which is aimed at slowing the ageing process.
While his remarks have been dismissed internationally as baseless conspiracy theories, they underscore the Russian state’s increasing use of LGBTQ+ identities as scapegoats — a tactic that critics say is designed to reinforce authoritarian power at home while stoking hostility toward the West.
