A pension office in Kaliningrad, one of the World Cup host cities. (c) Igor Zarembo / RIA Novosti. All rights reserved.Increasing the retirement age in Russia is quickly becoming a reality. On 14 June, as Vladimir Putin opened the FIFA World Cup in Moscow, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced the retirement age rise as if it was a done deal. Of course, the legislation still has to go through Russian parliament, but given United Russia’s parliamentary majority, the government is unlikely to face any problems.
In the end, the government has chosen most brutal version of the reform — the one which the Russian Finance Ministry insisted on. For men, the pension age will be increased to 65 (up from 60), and for women – to 63, an increase of eight (!) years. The age at which citizens can receive a basic state pension, i.e. if you don’t have the minimum number of years worked, is also going up: from 65 to 70 for men, and from 60 to 68 for women. For employees in the healthcare and education sectors, as well as residents of the Far North, the conditions for taking an early pension will change. Significantly, the situation with early pensions for people in the military, Interior Ministry, National Guard and prison service won’t change — at least, in the current version of the pension reform.
As ever, the Russian authorities pass anti-social laws as if they were carrying out a police operation
