Saturday, June 23, 2018

Moscow Digs In on Pension Plan as Popular Opposition to It Mounts



Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 23 – Andrey Turchak, a senior official of the ruling United Russia Party, has declared that any criticism of the pension reform plan by party members is impermissible, an indication that the Russian government has decided to dig in against mounting popular anger and opposition (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5B2E01946BC10).

            His order comes as the media is reporting that the number of Russians who have signed an online petition against raising the pension age has passed 2.2 million, making it one of the most signed petition in Russian history and an indication of how much what Moscow is doing is at odds with the Russian people (forum-msk.org/material/news/14763723.html).

            And yet another measure of just how intense Russian feelings are about the government’s plan to take a step so many of them oppose are commentators who say that the situation is now such that Russians are being asked “to help the state by dying before they can go on a pension” (sovross.ru/articles/1710/40074).

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