JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia’s pension reform still seen as unjust, but less willing to protest” – bne Intellinews [Sept. 27, 2018]
“The number of Russians willing to protest … unpopular pension reform and the hiking of the retirement age has dropped … from 53% in September to 35% in August, according to [the] Levada Center …. confirm[ing] previous reports that … Putin scaling back the reform managed to calm the masses. … [But] downplaying and squeezing the reform, despite popular discontent, still carries political costs, even though they remain latent …. * * * [While] a legacy of the Soviet Union … pensions are key for the population. Few pensioners actually stop working when they reach retirement age … pensions become a supplementary income for the last third of a citizen’s life and have a large impact on … quality of life. Raising the retirement ages is very unpopular.”