Alexander Kharichev, head of the presidential directorate for monitoring and analysis of social processes, described the plan at the "Creating the Future" symposium. He said the core of the hierarchy would be "values of sovereignty": patriotism, continuity of generations and responsibility for the fate of the fatherland. That block, he said, would be treated as the main one.
The current list of "traditional values" was approved by a decree signed by Vladimir Putin in November 2022. It places life, dignity, and human rights and freedoms first, with patriotism only after them. Humanism and mercy appear closer to the end of the list.
The bill is "already on its way out" and will be submitted to the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, in the near future, Kharichev said. He did not explain why the hierarchy is being fixed in law.
While preparing the document, the presidential administration held seminars with historians and philosophers. The result was a "civilizational code" of Russians made up of 56 features that Kharichev said can be traced throughout the country's history, among them faith, the motherland, truth, family and volya — freedom of choice.
At the same event, Kharichev said the war in Ukraine had brought Russians closer together. Before the invasion, about a third of Russians were prepared for their children to marry people of another nationality; now 52% are, he said. Kharichev called this a "harsh" example and added that the war "brings our peoples closer together".
Valery Fyodorov, director general of VTsIOM, Russia's state-run polling agency, told the same symposium that sociologists had identified "nuclear values": patriotism, service to the fatherland, a strong family, justice, mutual aid and mutual respect. According to the VTsIOM data he cited, 91% of Russians consider themselves patriots and 80% believe it is important to preserve "traditional values".
In November, the relevant State Duma committee approved a bill introducing fines for "discrediting traditional values". The document sets out administrative penalties for violating bans on distributing material that "discredits traditional spiritual and moral values or promotes their denial". The fines are proposed for the owners of social networks, not for users.