Pension row threatens to topple Russian Government

A protester holds a portrait of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin during a street rally. Pictures / Reuters

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin is under mounting pressure to sack his Government, after the country's pensioners unexpectedly capitalised on the biggest outpouring of popular malcontent in his five years in power.

Written off as relics of a bygone era whose time had passed, thousands of elderly people have taken to the streets for the past eight days to protest against the abolition of Soviet-era benefits.

Their protests have become known in the Russian media as the "chintz revolution" and are driven by the fact that compensation payments for the axed benefits are as low as 200 rubles ($10) a month, if and where they exist and have been paid.

The nationwide street demonstrations, the most serious to trouble Putin's presidency yet, forced the Russian President to condemn his own ministers and regional Governors in unusually strong terms on national TV for "not properly thinking through" the reform.

"Both the Government and regional Governments did not fully carry out the task we spoke about - that is to ensure that in taking this decision we do not make things worse for the people most in need of the state's help," intoned a sombre-looking Putin.

He said the Government and political parties would have to be ready for "criticism", a term experts believe is a sure sign heads will roll.

Senior members of his own United Russia party took the unusual step of saying the entire Government should resign next month if the situation did not "get back to normal" and a trio of political parties led by the Communists said they would try to call a parliamentary vote of no confidence in the Government.

Meanwhile, the social affairs ministry jumpily announced it would rush through an increase in the basic pension and introduce a special discount travel card.

Once apparently invincible, Putin's own popularity rating appears to be suffering, with a recent poll from the Yuri Levada Analytical Centre finding just 39 per cent of Russians trust him. Not long ago his rating for the same question was always around 60 per cent.

The source of the pensioners' anger - the new law on the so-called "monetisation" of social benefits - came into force on January 1. It was supposed to sweep away an archaic system that had become a terrible burden on the Russian economy.

But although the reasons for reform may have made sound economic sense, the way in which the law was drafted and implemented did not and many people who previously enjoyed free public transport and medicine, and heavily subsidised accommodation realised the good old days had come to an end.

Discontent is widespread because the changes affect 34 million Russians (just over one quarter of the entire population) including veterans of World War II, invalids, policemen and military servicemen.

They are the people who lost the most when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and are ironically the ones who looked to Putin to bring back the stability of the past.

Judging by the thousands who blocked streets yesterday, levels of disenchantment are high. The protesters' placards told the story.

"Putin is worse than Hitler!" said one. "The elderly have had everything taken away from them, even free travel!" screamed another.

- INDEPENDENT