Thousands of elderly Russians protested across the country on Tuesday to demand a big increase in government pensions which they say are too low to live off. They complain the state's fixed pensions have failed to keep pace with Russia's oil-fuelled near double-digit inflation, forcing them to subsist in poverty.
Underground passes and metro stations in Russia's largest cities are often filled with old women wrapped in shawls, begging for a few extra roubles while oligarchs drive past in expensive cars. Organised by a Russian independent trade union, between 300 and 2,500 people participated in each demonstration from the Far East in Vladivostok, to the more affluent regions closer to Moscow.
"We need a decent pension rather than life in poverty!" proclaimed the banner of one pensioner in Perm, a city in the Urals, RIA Novosti news agency reported. They demanded a pension worth at least 40 percent of their final working salary and warned that millions of Russians are subsisting on far less.
Further rallies will be held across the country in the coming month, announced the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia. "Pension reform has failed. Retiring in Russia means entering a life of poverty," union spokeswoman, Svetlana Yudina, told RIA Novosti.