Angry retirees demanding that their social benefits be restored staged a second day of protests in Russian President Vladimir Putin's home city, and along with protesters in other Russian cities demanded the president resign.
It has been the greatest public outburst of discontent since Putin took power five years ago. Top officials on Sunday tried to shift blame, accusing regional authorities of failing to implement the Kremlin-sponsored social reform properly.
PHOTO: AP
Though St. Petersburg authorities promised to restore some benefits after 10,000 people flooded Russia's second-largest city on Saturday, about 1,000 demonstrators returned Sunday to rally on central Nevsky Prospect, paralyzing city traffic.
The protesters, most of them elderly, waved red flags, beat spoons against saucepans and chanted slogans calling for Putin to step down.
"We are here to demand the right to life," said Zhanna Filonova, 61.
The protests, which have spread to cities across Russia's 11 time zones, were triggered by a Jan. 1 law that gives retirees, the disabled and war veterans cash stipends instead of benefits such as free public medicine and transportation.
Many of the elderly, already feeling disenfranchised, considered the change a final insult after they were left struggling to survive on meager pensions in inflationary and capitalist Russia when the state welfare system collapsed with the Soviet Union in 1991.
"Prices keep rising, and now they have canceled our benefits," said Yevgeniya Sidorova, 70. "Putin and his government want us to lie down and wait for death to come."
Defending the social reform bill, First Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov and Parliament Speaker Boris Gryzlov blamed provincial authorities for the failure to deliver the promised cash stipends in full.
"It's quite natural that people are angry," Zhukov said on state-controlled Rossiya television late on Sunday.
Protesters say new monthly payments of about US$10 are worth much less than the benefits, leaving them to have to choose between food, transport and medicine.
Many pledged to keep protesting until benefits were returned and pensions were increased. An average monthly pension is now worth about US$80.
The rallies across Russian cities, many of which involved blockades of key highways, have put new pressure on Putin, who has seen little public protest in his tenure during which most citizens have either supported or simply accepted the Kremlin's initiatives.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
RSS