Russian MPs approve pension reform amid protests

Russian lawmakers today approved a hugely unpopular government plan to hike the pension age that has led to protests and a record slump in 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 lawmakers 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 Stalin -- is currently 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 says the burden is simply too much for its stretched finances.

Analysts say that growing popular discontent over the change amid plunging living standards may present the most serious challenge to Putin during his nearly 20 years in power.

In early July several thousand people rallied in dozens of Russian cities in protests organised by Kremlin-friendly political parties and Putin's top critic Alexei Navalny.

On the eve of the vote around 1,000 people protested against the reform in Moscow and today around 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 says the pension age increase is unavoidable as the current system represents a growing weight for the cash-strapped federal budget.

Speaking in parliament, Labour Minister Maxim Topilin defended the bill, saying Russia's current pension system was rooted in the 1930s when life expectancy was "completely different." "Times are changing. The economy is changing," Topilin said. "We cannot be stuck in the 1930s."
He quoted Putin, who famously said in 2005 that there would be no pension age hike in Russia "while I am president."