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The Guardian (UK), August 12, 2004

Russia's Poor Cut Adrift by Putin's Revolution

A bill to replace Soviet perks for the old, sick and needy with cash payments has led to the first mass protests since president came to office Carolynne Wheeler in Moscow

After 40 years working for the Soviet Union's interior ministry, Ina Ilyina was naturally suspicious of what democracy would bring. But like most people, she held on through the turmoil and trusted that better times were ahead.

Now, more than 10 years later, with Russia poised to dismantle one of the signature schemes of the communist era, she speaks bitterly about her country's leaders.

Like an estimated 30 million other Russians, she will be affected by President Vladimir Putin's plans to abandon the former Soviet system of benefits for the old, sick and needy.

"I trusted (Boris) Yeltsin. That was my mistake. He is an alcoholic, a mafiosi, he sold out everything," says Ms Ilyina, 72, whose monthly pension of 4,600 roubles (?86) is among the more generous awarded to Russian retirees.

"It's a burglary of the elderly. They are stealing from the people, stealing from the dead."

A plan to replace this treasured system of social benefits, which includes housing subsidies, free public transport, discounts on prescription medication, free artificial limbs and spa treatment, with a straight cash payment has sparked weeks of noisy demonstrations, the first since Mr Putin took power in 2000.

Many fear the new payments will in no way make up for the loss in benefits to some of Russia's most vulnerable people, including second world war veterans.

Nevertheless, the Duma, or lower house of parliament, quickly pushed the legislation through both its second and third readings last week. The Federation Council, or upper house, held a rare Sunday meeting to give the bill its stamp of approval. Now all that remains is for Mr Putin to sign it into law, a task he is expected to perform by tomorrow.

In a last, desperate attempt to stop him doing so, human rights groups delivered an 80,000-signature petition to the Kremlin on Monday. They received no direct response. But the next day Mr Putin appeared on state television, thanking parliamentarians for their "thorough and well-balanced consideration in implementing the reforms. This is a very important and very sensitive package, and I'm pleased that the Federation Council members have treated it very attentively."

The attitude has disheartened thousands of Russia's pensioners, many of whom will struggle under this legislation. For the poorest pensioners, who often use the metro or buses to travel around the city to collect and return empty glass bottles for a few kopecks apiece, even the 10-rouble (19p) metro fare will quickly eat into any money they might earn.

Under the new system, Ms Illyina will lose her housing benefit. Her pension will have to cover a 1,200-rouble rent, 600 roubles a month for medication to control her diabetes, as well as the costs of public transport and her phone service.

In return, as a second-category invalid and a labour veteran, she should receive an extra 650 roubles a month.

"Of course we are against (the change.) It's so bad. We are in a bad state already," says Ekaterina Odintsova, 82, who is living in poverty after 30 years of cleaning a Moscow children's home. Her 2,400-rouble pension is now barely enough for food, on top of the 800 roubles a month she pays as half-rent and for electricity and the phone on the two-room flat she shares with her granddaughter.

With both her son and daughter-in-law dead, she is most worried about having to pay for public transport.

"I use public transport all the time, to buy groceries at the market," says Ms Odintsova, lifting her frail arms to show the two lumpy bags in her hands, and smiling slightly to show the two remaining, stained teeth behind her sunken cheeks. Her eyes are weak, but there is no money for glasses, nor will she visit a doctor for fear of having to pay.

The cash payments under the new system start at 450 roubles a month for average pensioners, and run as high as 3,500 roubles a month for those holding government medals of honour.

The new system's supporters say it is a necessary reform that streamlines the state budget and equalises benefits, since villagers living far from Moscow, for instance, cannot make use of free metro travel.

The prime minister, Mikhail Fradkov, told a cabinet meeting that the move was "economically substantiated, socially fair and, in our considered opinion, must improve the lives of Russian citizens".

But in a country where salaries are often paid late, and where inflation and bank crises have robbed thousands of people of their life savings, money is simply not trusted.

And none of the amendments has won the hearts of Russia's elderly, who suffered the devastation of the second world war as well as persecution at the hands of the state.

"The procedure of adopting this law has been insulting and disgraceful," says Lev Ponomaryov, a Soviet-era dissident who is now head of the For Human Rights movement.

"This is changing the state's status as a social state. The state (until) now guarantees to its people the right to medical care, to education, to work. This law cancels the constitutional functions of the government."

With images of police in riot gear ready to hold back white-haired protesters, many carrying walking sticks or in wheelchairs, and of the Duma surrounded by fences and armed soldiers on the day of the vote, the legislation has not been without political damage. Mr Putin's popularity took a slight slip in the opinion polls for the first time in years this summer.

The independent Levada Polling Centre last month put his popularity at 72%, the lowest in four years, while the Public Opinion Foundation measured it at just below 50% for the first time.

Though the pro-Putin United Russia party still holds an overwhelming majority, some political watchers believe the fallout from this legislation will hit President Putin's popularity and make his attempts at future reforms all the more difficult.

"We'll see it, because now the laws are adopted they'll start to influence the life of the people," says Leonid Sedov, a senior analyst with the Levada centre.

Still, in a country known for survivors, there is an undercurrent among pensioners that once again, they will make do.

"What will happen, will happen," says Zoya Kuzmina, 77. "I will be receiving the same as everyone else."

------- Social aid What they will lose

An estimated 30 million pensioners, war veterans and disabled people, as well as those who have given distinguished service to the country, stand to lose:

* Free transport passes on both city and regional transport networks

* Free medicines and free artificial limbs

* Half-rent and subsidised telephone service and electricity

* Annual spa treatment and transport to and from the medical centre

The cash payments which replace these will come into effect on January 1. Disabled second world war veterans will receive an extra1,550 roubles (?29) a month; survivors of the siege of Leningrad will get an extra 650, and adults with disabilities an extra 50 roubles

 

See also:

Social Policies

The Guardian (UK), August 12, 2004

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