Russian ultra-nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky yesterday suggested a raft of measures including polygamy to reverse a post-Soviet population decline, Russian agencies reported.

Speaking at a Russian Parliament meeting, Mr Zhirinovsky, the flamboyant leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, suggested "allocating 100.000 rubles (€2,350) for a first born."

With such a payment "I assure you half of the women planning an abortion would change their minds," he said. Currently the Russian state pays mothers €7,000 for every second birth.

Mr Zhirinovsky also said men should be authorised to marry twice, and that the state should provide special assistance for the estimated six million childless couples in the country.

"If we helped just five per cent (of these couples) we would have around 200,000 extra births per year," he said.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev reportedly said the proposals were "very interesting", and told his ministers to look into them.

Russia's population fell precipitously after the 1991 collapse of Communism, dropping from around 148 million then to some 142 million today due to various factors including economic difficulties and high alcoholism rates.

The government has taken a range of measures to fight the population decline including awarding medals of "parental glory" to parents of many children.

In late December, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced that Russia in 2009 had experienced its first annual population increase since 1995.