Anger builds as Duma agrees to hike pension age

MPS WERE ‘ADVISED’ NOT TO CRITICISE PUTIN — WHO HAS SOUGHT TO DISTANCE HIMSELF FROM THE PENSION BILL

Russian legislators on Thursday approved a hugely unpopular government plan to hike the pension age that has led to protests and a record slump in President Vladimir Putin’s approval ratings.

In a rare move, usually pliant Kremlin-friendly opposition parties — the Communists, the Liberal Democratic Party and A Just Russia — rejected the legislation to raise the pension age to 65 for men and 63 for women.

A total of 327 legislators in the lower house, or State Duma, voted in favour of the bill in its first reading, with 102 against. The planned pension age hike — a first in nearly 90 years — has led to a rare outburst of public anger at Putin.

A legacy of the USSR, Russia’s retirement age — set at 55 for women and 60 for men since Joseph Stalin — is among the lowest in the world.

Given Russians’ low life expectancy, many will not live long enough under the new system to receive a state pension, but the government said the burden was simply too much for its stretched finances.

Analysts said growing popular discontent over the change amid plunging living standards could present the most serious challenge to Putin during his nearly 20 years in power. In July thousands of people rallied in dozens of cities in protests organised by Kremlin-friendly political parties and Putin’s top critic, Alexei Navalny.

On the eve of the pension vote about 1,000 people protested against the reform in Moscow and on Thursday about 200 people gathered outside the Duma itself.

“We are living quite badly, people’s patience is running out,” said 54-year-old accountant Natalya, declining to give her last name. “We are sick of bearing this,” she added at Thursday’s protest ahead of the vote.

“This is a vile, inhumane law for Russian citizens,” said Valery Rashkin, one of the many Communist MPs who came out to support the protesters.

The government said the pension age increase was unavoidable as the system represents a growing weight for the cash-strapped federal budget.

Labour Minister Maxim Topilin defended the bill, saying the current pension system was rooted in the 1930s when life expectancy was “different”.

“Times are changing. The economy is changing,” Topilin said. “We cannot be stuck in the 1930s.”

On Wednesday, the liberal daily Vedomosti reported MPs were “advised” not to criticise Putin — who has sought to distance himself from the bill — during the debate.

But some Communist Party MPs, who occasionally challenge the government on social issues but generally support the Kremlin, demanded Putin take a public stance on the proposed legislation.