Russian parliament approves Putin's controversial pension reform

Russian parliament's lower house passed a controversial pension reform bill Wednesday, after President Vladimir Putin announced concessions to try to dampen widespread public anger over plans to raise the state retirement age.

The bill, which still has to go through the formality of a third reading and senate hearing, would see Russian men retire at 65 instead of 60 and has sparked rare national protest, with tens of thousands rallying across Russia in recent months.

The lower house passed the controversial legislation in a key second reading, with 326 votes for, 59 against and one abstention.

Parliament's lower house, the State Duma, earlier in the day approved Putin's proposed amendments to the reform, raising the state pension age for women by five years to 60, instead of eight years to 63 originally proposed.

Several dozen people staged a protest outside the State Duma on Wednesday, including opposition activist Sergei Udaltsov who held a poster reading: "Retirement age increase is genocide!"