Press Release, 28.08.2018

On Sunday, 2 September, the Yabloko party will take part in the all-Russian action against the government’s plans to raise the retirement age. Representatives of the Yabloko party are members of the organising committee of the action.

The geography and format of the actions is as follows (more details will be added soon):

Moscow, 12:00, a rally on Suvorov Square (Dostoyevskaya metro station).

Ufa, 12:00, single-person pickets on the square near the shopping center Mir (Prospect Oktyabrya 4/1).

Novgorod, 13:00, a rally at the monument to Peter the Great at the intersection of Bolshaya St. Petersburg street and the Gzene embankment.

Omsk, 12:00, a rally on the square in front of the Blinov Arena (Dekabristov Street, 91).

Novosibirsk, 14:00, a rally on the square in front of the National Public Library for Science and Technology (Voskhod Street, 15).

Barnaul, 13:00, a rally by Herman Titov Street, 9.

The Yabloko party was one of the first to oppose the increase in the retirement age by holding pickets by the State Duma. Later, activists and supporters of Yabloko throughout the country took part in the rallies of protest.

Yabloko believes that raising the retirement age is a result of the incompetent policy of Vladimir Putin’s government and an outdated model of the economy.

The economy is not growing and people’s incomes are falling. Losses from the sanctions amount to 9 trillion roubles. Instead of correcting mistakes, the country’s leadership gets into the pocket of ordinary people.

15 million Russians work in the “shadow” sector, do not pay taxes and contributions to the Pension Fund. Instead of raising the retirement age, it is necessary to withdraw the economy from the “shadow”.

Undesignated expenses of ministries and state corporations amount to 1.9 trillion roubles. The government plans to spend 19 trillion roubles on the weapons programme until 2025. We need to fight corruption, reduce inefficient spending and redirect money to healthcare and the social sphere.

Meanwhile the Russian government waived USD 160 billion of debts to other countries. While the living standards in Russia remain low, the state has no right to finance foreign countries.

Russia spends 1.2 trillion roubles annually on tax benefits to the commodity-driven businesses. The federal budget of Russia annually receives less than due by the state-owned companies in dividends by 400 billion roubles.  It is necessary to stop giving money to the oligarchs, who receive more per day than the pensioner for ten years, and force the state companies to pay dividends to the Pension Fund.

The modernisation of the economy, the reduction of deliberately inflated costs and the fight against corruption constitute an alternative to raising the retirement age.