President Vladimir Putin answered the question about raising the retirement age during his annual news conference on Thursday. According to him, it is a sensitive and important issue, but Russia will have to do it “no matter what,” RT reports.
As the problem is not about the current shortages, but about a threatening trend, the President explained. The trends are such that the number of workers is declining, while the number of non-working pensioners is on the rise.
“We can forget about it for the next five to seven years; however, then the country will have to do it no matter what, but it will have to be done abruptly, without a transition period, or any easing of terms, including for women,” the President said.
The Ministry of Finance initially proposed raising the retirement age to 63 years for women, and to 65 for men; however, they decided to ease the terms for women, raising it only by five years, to 60.
“This is an unpleasant and, clearly, not a fun thing to do, but it has to be done nonetheless,” Vladimir Putin said, adding he was well aware of how people would react to the reform.