Russians Should Be Worrying More about What Kremlin Will Do Next if It Gets Its Way on Pensions

Paul Goble

            Staunton, August 13 – More than 80 percent of Russians are opposed to the government’s plan to raise pension ages, something that many say will land them in poverty or worse; but the regime seems committed to pushing the reform through because it obviously believes that it can ignore the will of the people.

            Russians should be angry about the pension crisis, commentator Valery Mironenko says; and they should be protesting with all their might but not only because of this measure alone. Clearly, he says, if the regime can do this against the will of the population, think what horrific step it might take then (publizist.ru/blogs/108984/26439/-).

            If Russians do not take that likelihood seriously and engage in mass protests and put pressure on their representatives and other officials, he suggests, they will discover that the regime will conclude that it can do whatever it wants with impunity – and then the future for Russians will be truly dire indeed.