Under rare pressure, Putin promises softer pension overhaul

By Anton Troianovski / The Washington Post

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin took to national TV on Wednesday with a promise to soften the government’s plan to raise the retirement age, even as he sought to convince Russians that painful changes remain necessary to put the economy on more solid footing.

The unusual televised address to the nation was a sign that despite Putin’s dominance over Russian politics, the Kremlin fears the consequences of public discontent. Putin repeatedly referred to the audience as his “dear friends” and ended with: “I ask for your understanding.”

The original proposal to overhaul the pension system, first announced by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev just as the soccer World Cup kicked off here in June, would have raised the retirement age to 65 from 60 for men and to 63 from 55 for women. But polls showed the move was deeply unpopular, and it sparked protests across the country.

In Wednesday’s address, Putin said he would move to reduce the new retirement age for women to 60.

“We’re not going to let that happen, of course,” Putin said, referring to the proposed eight-year increase for women. “In our country, there is a special, caring attitude to women.”

At the same time, Putin used his half-hour-long remarks to argue that Russia’s low birthrate and growing life expectancy meant that the country’s pension system — largely unchanged from Soviet times — needs to evolve. It was a rare case in which Putin — despite his vast influence on politics, the security apparatus and the news media — turned directly to the public to defend an unpopular measure.

It was a rare case in which Putin — despite his vast influence on politics, the security apparatus and the news media — turned directly to the public to defend an unpopular measure. And it underscored the challenges that Russia’s lackluster economic growth, undermined further by Western sanctions, poses to Putin’s rule.

“It’s natural that all of this is perceived painfully by many people. I understand this well and share this concern,” Putin said, speaking directly to the camera from a wood-paneled office, flanked by Russian flags, a large phone and a leather binder.

After describing what he said would be the unsustainable costs of keeping the retirement age unchanged, he went on: “A lack of action now or taking various cosmetic measures would be irresponsible and dishonest with respect both to our country and our children.”

Putin’s approval ratings dropped to 67 percent in July from 79 percent in May, according to the independent Levada Center. Almost 90 percent of Russians opposed the pension overhaul, the pollster found. Opposition politicians seized on the plan to galvanize their supporters.

Activist Alexei Navalny, who called for nationwide protests coinciding with Russian regional elections Sept. 9, was sentenced to 30 days in jail on Monday. Analysts said the move to put Navalny behind bars, as punishment for his role in organizing protests in January, appeared designed to keep the prominent opposition leader off the streets for the demonstrations opposing the pension overhaul.

The backlash against the pension plan illustrated that managing Russia’s shaky economy represents more treacherous ground for Putin at home than does his foreign policy. The annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014 and the ensuing conflict with the West have allowed Putin to position himself as a defender of the Russian people who is above the fray of daily politics. But the move to lower the retirement age suddenly brought the public’s focus back to Russia’s domestic malaise — and Putin’s approval rating dropped to a level last seen just before the annexation of Crimea.

Putin has tried to cast himself “as a father of the nation,” said Andrei Kolesnikov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank. “Because of the pension reform, he stopped being only a symbol. People believed that he also carried responsibility for a wrong decision.”