The Russian man will soon enjoy a year and a half retirement

In Orenburg, young Russians have no illusions. Retire later? "I will not go for that," says student Moerat Kalipov, barely nineteen years old.

"We have to be realistic," says 42-year-old psychologist Gleb Njoechanov: "I do not think I live long, the receptionist Oksana Nikoelina (36) is only a cynical joke." of my retirement, I will probably die. "

The age of retirement in Russia increases dramatically.In 2024, men will not retire on the 60th, but the 65th.The age of retirement women spend even eight to five years, from 55 to 63.

The increase in the age of retirement is the most unpopular measure that President Putin has ever implemented: more than 90% of Russians

The pension is a sacred cow for Russia: a social relic of the Soviet era.In his first year as president, Putin established his authority by ensuring that the pensions are paid on time Many of the 40 million pensioners in Russia have since voted for Putin. 9659002] Now pensions are shoveled. After his reelection this spring, Putin has set new goals for the development of Russia: investment in education, health care and infrastructure. To be able to realize this "corpse of May", eight billion rubles (109 billion euros) will be needed over the next six years. This money is not there. Russia is emerging from a crisis and in the last four years, Russia's reserve fund – $ 75 billion in oil and gas profits – has been issued at a rapid pace. The government must get money from somewhere and therefore raise not only the age of retirement, but also the VAT rate, up to 20%.

In dozens of places on the street

There is a lot of resistance to the measures. During the World Cup in the host cities has not been demonstrated, but in dozens of other places, the Russians have gone on the streets. Last Saturday, 6,000 protesters gathered in central Moscow. Although the municipality authorized the protest, the organizers – including the staff of opposition leader Aleksej Navalny – were arrested.

Protest was also in Orenburg, a somewhat tired industrial town at the foot of the Urals, near the border with Kazakhstan. For more than two hundred years, it was a garrison town, a Russian outpost on the edge of the steppe. Industrialization came in World War II, when the Soviets moved their factories from the front to the backcountry. The famous cellist Mstislav Rostropovich was evacuated to this city in 1941 – the conservatory bears his name. Even more famous is the cosmonaut Joeri Gagarin, who studied at the military aviation school between 1955 and 1957, now no more than a dilapidated residential barracks where mold is on the walls.

At the edge of the river, children splash in shallow water, but the center is desert around noon. Then there is a little walking music. The Communist Party of Orenburg distributes leaflets under the hot sun. On July 28, the Communists want to demonstrate again. At the previous event, they had more than a thousand people on the street. It was perhaps also because local representatives of opposition leader Aleksej Navalny staged a protest that day, but still.

Valeri Zyrjanov saw Joeri Gagarin with his own eyes because he is already 80 years old. The former major proudly holds the flag with the blood red banner. It can be brief on pension reforms: "Absolute idiocy! Many people do not live long enough to retire later." The main reason is that in Orenburg, people live shorter lives than in the rest of the world. rest of Russia.

In 2015, the Orenburg oblast represented the average life expectancy at birth in place 61 of the 85 total regions of the Russian Federation. , average life expectancy was more than a year lower than the national average (71.9 years) .The average life expectancy of men in Orenburg was less than 65 years (64, 94 years old) in 2016.

According to some residents, the harsh climate is: hot summers and freezing winters.Maybe it's just because of the gas plant's emissions just to Many people think that the high mortality due to cancer is due to the nuclear exercise of Sep. 14 September 1954, when a bomber launched an atomic bomb at a hundred kilometers from the city.

This is certainly also due to poor health. health care in Orenburg. The courtyard of the Regional Hospital for Infectious Diseases still looks like a rundown factory site. Between the puddles, the gossamer patients smoke. Most of them are under 30.

It's dining, says Oksana Nikoelina, the hotel's receptionist, while she's looking thoughtfully at the hamburger that's out there. she has just commanded. "The fat meat.People do not have money to buy fruits and vegetables."

The average monthly income in Russia is 40 000 rubles (540 euros), but in Orenburg from many salaries are much lower. "It is normal to take out a loan to buy warm boots for the winter," says Nikoelina. "People are constantly stressed: can they pay their mortgage tomorrow?" It's unhealthy.

Nikoelina's mother died when she was 59 – cancer. Last year, a tumor was discovered in it – just in time. A good friend died of a heart attack at the age of 35. "All my friends say: I hope I'll have it, this retirement age," Nikoelina said with melancholy. "But there are still no mass demonstrations."

Maksim Amelin hopes that. The first party secretary of the local communists did not play the megaphone. "We believe that the retirement age can only be increased if the average life expectancy has risen sharply," he says.

But that seems like a past resort. In the first vote of July 19 in the Duma, the law on pensions was adopted by a large majority: Putin's "United Russia" party held nearly three quarters of the seats in the Russian parliament. The Communists put their hopes on the second treatment. "When people flock to the streets, the law can be substantially changed," says A. Amelin

. Many Russians have their hopes on Putin. Although he is responsible as head of government, the president is trying to stay as far as possible from the bill. Faced with the news agency Tass, Putin gave the impression that a final decision was far from being made. "If they ask me: which of the different variants do you like, then I can say: none."

In 2024, Putin decreed in his May-Oekaze, the average life expectancy in Russia must have increased to 78 years. The goal is 80 years for 2030.

Agents at 45 years of retirement

Vladimir Zjoeban is 67 years old and he has been retiring for eight years. Each month he receives 12,800 rubles (173 euros). "A very average pension," he says, and that's right: in 2016, the average pension in Russia was just over 13,000 rubles.

It is not that Zjoeban has stopped working: his practice of trustee in bankruptcy continues. This means that he does not have to get out with his meager pension. Vladimir Zjoeban can not convince you of the utility and the need to raise the retirement age. He quotes Russian economists who have shown that the economic effects would be negative. It highlights the labor market implications now that seniors will stay in their place longer. "Justice is hard to find in social policy in Russia," says Zjoeban. Take the siloviki : soldiers, agents and employees of the many security services. They are excluded from the measure and will soon be able to retire at the age of 45. Zjoeban smiled. "We take good care of people on whom the plan supports it."