The issue of retirement is inevitable, the speaker of the Federation Council, Valentina Matviyenko, wrote in her column in the Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily.
"The problem of the retirement age is not a contrived issue, it's real. Not a single country facing similar demographic problems has managed to evade it," RIA Novosti cited her as saying.
Today, the overwhelming majority of Russians are not ready for immediate adoption of such a measure. This is seen from the sociological data, people’s appeals to the Federation Council, her meetings with people in Russian regions. According to Matviyenko, "both detailed expert elaboration and a wide public discussion are needed" to avoid possible shocks for people.
According to her, the upper house is ready for close constructive cooperation with the government on that issue. "This subject has been included into the basic guidelines for the Russian government’s activities till the year 2018," she said.
