The
governmental bill on pensions, which rises retirement age limits, is
"the most cruel and cynical of the last 25 years", said the
Chairman of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF)
Gennady Zyuganov during a discussion at the Duma.
In
a fierce speech against the anti-people reform proposed by the
government, Zyuganov called President Vladimir Putin not to proceed
with the pension reform but, instead, to fulfill his promise for
improvement of the people's quality of life. "I
am appealing to the president: 77% voted for you. But 91% are against
this reform.'' said the CPRF
Chairman.
Gennady
Zyuganov, whose Party leads a nationwide campaign against the new
reform, pointed out that billionaires
and millionaires, oligarchs (the "sacred cow" which the
government is afraid to "touch them") have accumulated 90% of the
national wealth and increased their capital by $25 billion last year.
A
week ago, talking to Interfax news agency, Zyuganov said that 5
million signatures have already been collected and that more people
are expected to join the campaign, demaning a referendum over the
proposed governmental bill. "The bill will not pass as it
is, and even if it is adopted [by the parliament majority], it will
be a pension default followed by a political default. This is
unavoidable," he said. It
is characteristic that due to the severely anti-people, anti-worker
nature of the reform, opinion polls showing that the governing
parties’ support had plummeted 12% in a few weeks, jeopardazing Vladimir Putin's own popularity.
In
an effort to appease public anger over the increase of the retirement
age limits, President Putin publicly noted that, in his opinion, the
increase for women should also be five years instead of eight, as the
current draft stipulates. If Putin’s amendments are passed in the
final draft of the bill, women will officially retire at 60. The
current draft bill proposes the increase of the age limits to 65 for
men and 63 for women.
Preparations
for the referendum could be completed and initiative groups could be
gathered together by September 15, said Yury Afonin, deputy chair of the Russian Communist Party Central Committee and State Duma deputy. "The target date
is September 15, considering that our protests are planned for
September 22, and the second reading of the pension reform bill is
due on September 24" he added. Also, it
must be noted that large demonstrations have been scheduled on the 2nd of September.
Sources: Intefax / TASS / Russia Today.