Several hundred Russians demonstrated in the regional city of Novosibirsk on June 16 against the government’s decision to raise retirement ages for men and women from 60/55 years to 65/63 a day earlier.

“In #Novosibirsk, #Russia, locals held a rally in #protest of proposed retirement age increases. The protesters demanded resignation of President Putin & his government,” tweeted Alex Kokcharov, a country risk analyst focused on Russia.

The action was announced by the Party of Pensioners and Pensioners for a Decent Life. Members of the Left Front, the Libertarian Party and supporters of anti-corruption blogger and opposition activist Alexei Navalny also attended, the local press reported.

Protestors gathered in Novosibirsk to protest against the government decision to increase retirement ages. The sign reads: "I don’t want to die at work." 

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s government pushed through the long discussed but sensitive decision as part of the Kremlin’s drive to raise fresh revenues to meet President Vladimir Putin’s proposed RUB8 trillion ($126mn) spending extravaganza on the social sphere and Russia’s dilapidated infrastructure as part of his so-called May Decrees.

Before the Novosibirsk rally began, pensioners collected signatures to stop the bill on raising the retirement age and to demand a reduction in gasoline prices, which have soared recently.

When pensions were first introduced in the 1930s the average life expectancy in Russia was 40 years but since Putin took over in 2000 they have soared; now Russians can expect to live an average of 15 more years after retirement.

However, with the population dent from the 90s now hitting the demographic curve the state is increasingly struggling to meet pension payments, which already eat up about a third of federal budget spending.

Putin distanced himself from the unpopular decision, with the Kremlin announcing on June 15 that the president was not part of the body that had decided to through the new law.

Protestors collected signatures to send to the prime minister

The news was also deliberately buried as the official announcement was made on the same day as the World Cup tournament kicked off with a stunning and very unexpected 5:0 victory for the Russian national team against Saudi Arabia.

The decision was a bold one and long overdue. But it is also the first time that Putin has directly increased the burden on the population since he took office 17 years ago. The bedrock of his sky high popularity has been the low flat taxes on income that he has refused to increase. The implicit promise in Putin’s social contract has been: “stay out of politics and I will deliver on prosperity.”

Russia watchers will be following this story closely to see if there are more protests following the increase in retirement ages. In 47 of Russia’s 81 regions average life expectancies are less than 65 years old, reports RFE/RL.

Protests of any sort have been banned for the duration of the World Cup and there are reports on social media the Kremlin has ordered a blackout on reporting on crimes until the end of July.