MOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/. The State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, adopted in the second and main reading a too much talked about bill on changing the pension legislation. 326 lawmakers voted for the document, 59 voted against, one abstained.

Amendments

The key amendments to the government initiative were made by Russian President Vladimir Putin, suggesting that the age of retirement should be set at 60 for women, not 63, as the Cabinet originally proposed. For men, the retirement age is set at 65 years.

Currently, the retirement age for men and women in Russia is 60 and 55 years respectively.

Earlier in his televised address to the nation Putin also he thought it necessary to double the unemployment benefit for pre-retirement age individuals since 2019, introduce preferential retirement in the age of 50-57 for mothers with many children and keep land tax and real property tax benefits for citizens at the level of the current retirement age. Putin also pointed to the necessity of introducing employer’s liability for unjustified dismissal or refusal to employ pre-retirement age individuals.

On September 25, the State Duma adopted the low which imposes a fine up to 200,000 rubles ($2,900) for refusal to hire soon-to-retire individuals or their unjustified dismissal.

The amended version of the law also includes corrections by the lawmakers of the State Duma and senators from the United Russia party. These amendments reduce by three years the length of service that gives the right to early retirement: for men it was reduced to 42 from 45 years as it was originally planned, for women it was reduced to 37 from 40 years.