Thousands protest in Russia over pension age

Russians held rallies across the country yesterday to protest at a government plan to raise the age for receiving state pensions.

Several thousand people gathered in central Moscow led by the Communist Party. Another Moscow protest organised by the A Just Russia party attracted about 1,500 people.

Other demonstrations were reported in at least a dozen cities throughout the country.

The plan was introduced in June and has passed its first reading in the lower house of parliament. But widespreadoppositionhas persisted and president Vladimir Putin’s approval ratings have fallen since the plan was announced.

In an unusual televised address to the nation, Mr Putin last week conceded that the pension age for women will be raised only to 60 rather than the proposed 63. The current pension age for women is 55.

The plan would retain the raising of the men’s pension age from 60 to 65, over five years.