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Eastern Europe
June 22, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 17
"A large group of scientists and jurists is working now to create the concept of a new Constitution. Then this project must be submitted to a referen- dum," the politician said. "The new president must first adopt a new constitution and implement it. New parliamentary elections should then be held under a
Hundreds demonstrated in Russia's Novosibirsk against government decision to raise retirement ages
bne IntelliNews
Several hundred Russians demonstrated in the regional city of Novosibirsk on June 16 against the government’s decision to raise retirement ages for men and women from 60/55 years to 65/63 a day earlier.
“In #Novosibirsk, #Russia, locals held a rally in #protest of proposed retirement age increases. The protesters demanded resignation of President Putin & his government,” tweeted Alex Kokcharov, a country risk analyst focused on Russia.
The action was announced by the Party of Pen- sioners and Pensioners for a Decent Life. Mem- bers of the Left Front, the Libertarian Party and supporters of anti-corruption blogger and opposi- tion activist Alexei Navalny also attended, the local press reported.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s gov- ernment pushed through the long discussed but sensitive decision as part of the Kremlin’s drive to raise fresh revenues to meet President Vladimir Putin’s proposed RUB8 trillion ($126mn) spending extravaganza on the social sphere and Russia’s
new, strong constitution, the best in the world."
Meanwhile, many Kyiv-based political experts believe that Poroshenko has more than enough time to shore up his popular support, which has been weakened over the past year.
Novosibirsk protests against the increase in retirement ages: "I dont want to die at work"
dilapidated infrastructure as part of his so-called May Decrees.
Before the Novosibirsk rally began, pensioners collected signatures to stop the bill on raising the retirement age and to demand a reduction in gasoline prices, which have soared recently.
When pensions were first introduced in the 1930s the average life expectancy in Russia was 40 years but since Putin took over in 2000 they have soared; now Russians can expect to live an aver- age of 15 more years after retirement.
However, with the population dent from the 90s now hitting the demographic curve the state is in- creasingly struggling to meet pension payments, which already eat up about a third of federal budget spending.
Putin distanced himself from the unpopular deci- sion, with the Kremlin announcing on June 15 that the president was not part of the body that had decided to through the new law.