Russia not ready for dramatic increase in retirement age - Putin
MOSCOW. April 16 (Interfax) - Russia is not yet ready for a dramatic increase in the retirement age, although the authorities might reconsider the issue if the average life expectancy increases, President Vladimir Putin said during a televised Q&A session.
"Are we ready to go and increase the retirement age dramatically? I think not," he said.
"We'll probably look at these issues, among them the retirement age, some time" as life expectancy increases, he said.
Putin said that it is necessary to review this problem in an open dialogue with the public.
"It is necessary that people understand, what causes this, what inaction and the failure to make timely decisions may lead to," the president said.
He said that today's life expectancy does not permit an increase in the retirement age.
"The average life expectancy is rising for us, but all the same, for men today this is 65 and a half years. So, if we raise the retirement age to 65, excuse my coarseness, this would mean that a person has worked to the end, into a coffin and gone," Putin said.
"This is impossible," he said.
He called attention to the fact that in the vast majority of countries, where the retirement age has been raised, the life expectancy is higher than the Russian one.
"For example, we have an average life expectancy for women of 77 and a half, and there it is 81 and more," the president said.