Moscow, Sep 2 (AP/UNB) — Russians are holding rallies throughout the country to protest a government plan to raise the age for receiving state pensions.
Several thousand people gathered in central Moscow on Sunday for a protest organized by the Communist Party. Other demonstrations were reported in Vladivostok in the Far East, and Barnaul and Novosibirsk in Siberia.
The plan was introduced in June and has passed first-reading in the lower house of parliament. But widespread opposition has persisted and President Vladimir Putin's approval ratings in polls have fallen notably since the plan was announced.
In an unusual televised address to the nation, Putin last week conceded that the pension age for women will be raised only to 60 rather than the proposed 63. The current pension age for women is 55.