Beltway Confidential

Putin’s pension reforms won’t fix Russia

By Tom Rogan
Published August 29, 2018 5:45pm ET
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Putin’s pension reforms won’t fix Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin makes an address on the state TV in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018. Putin in a televised address Wednesday said without raising the retirement age Russia's pension system "would crack and eventually collapse." He offered concessions to the reform, saying that women's retirement age should increase from 55 to 60 years, lower than had proposed. | (Alexei Druzhinin/AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to roll back planned pension reforms won’t address the central issues facing his country, a demographically challenged nation beset by corruption and declining export potential.

In a rare backtracking move, Putin on Wednesday announced that the pension eligibility age for women would rise from 55 to 60 instead of 63. The altered plan comes alongside Putin’s falling approval ratings and is sure to help them along (although he remains popular).

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Russia Sanctions Vladimir Putin