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Russia's Communist Party cuts a deal with Moscow City Hall to stage a protest against raising the country's retirement age

Source: Meduza

Russia’s Communist Party has cut a deal with Moscow City Hall to stage a protest on September 2 against proposed pension reforms. Organizers have obtained a permit to march to up 15,000 people down Academician Sakharov Avenue, but they had to agree to a rally that’s just half as long as what they wanted.

The party reportedly asked the city for permission to start the protest at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, September 2, giving demonstrators a full hour to assemble, before marching and rallying until 3 p.m. City Hall said, okay, Commies, you can have your permit, but you’ve got 15 minutes to gather your people at noon, and the whole demonstration is over by 2 p.m. Organizers said okay.

Does this mean the authorities are caving to popular backlash?

Don’t count on it. Despite the feats of its Soviet predecessor, Russia’s Communist Party is just another cog in the country’s controlled “systemic” opposition, and it’s already been staging toothless protests against pension reforms since the initiative was unveiled in June.

Anti-corruption activist Alexey Navalny says he wants to organize demonstrations on September 9, when Russia holds regional elections throughout the country, but it’s unlikely that many cities will issue permits for these rallies.

Earlier this summer, the newspaper Vedomosti reported that the Kremlin had mobilized a brain trust to “win back” the pension reform issue. Many experts expect the authorities to tweak the current plan to raise Russia’s retirement age before it inevitably becomes federal law, possibly by reducing the proposed raise to women’s pension age. A poll by the independent Levada Center in late June found that 89 percent of Russians oppose the reform plan.

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