Vladimir Putin's government has been criticised for using the World Cup to bury the bad news

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In a hugely unpopular move which has been met with strong public opposition for over a decade, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in Moscow on Thursday that a draft bill to raise the national pension age will be delivered to parliament “in the nearest future”. The announcement was made immediately after Russia’s 5-0 victory over Saudi Arabia on Thursday evening. Sergey Aleksashenko, an economist and a former central bank deputy chairman, thinks the clash with the World Cup may help keep reaction to the announcement muted. He said on Twitter: “The chosen moment is good: the start of the summer, minimal social activity and a ban on mass gatherings during the World Cup.

The chosen moment is good: the start of the summer, minimal social activity and a ban on mass gatherings during the World Cup Sergey Aleksashenko

“From all the possible options to increase the retirement age, the government has chosen the toughest one.” The Russian government approved and submitted a draft law raising the retirement age to the State Duma, and is pushing for the bill to be voted to be adopted before the end of the World Cup on July 15. Mr Medvedev signed the bill and proposed the retirement age should rise from 55 to 63 for women, and from 60 to 65 by 2034, according to a report from the government’s press service. The Russian prime minister said: “The bill "proposes to introduce a sufficiently long transition period - to start from 2019 to gradually reach retirement age of 65 for men in 2028 and 63 years for women in 2034."

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Russian prime minister Dmitri Medvedev signed the bill

But the Russian government is considering “mitigating parameters of the reform” due to fears of protests, Russian newspaper Vedomosti reported. According to the newspaper, Russia’s Internal Policy Department is gathering information about people’s reactions to the proposal from around the country, and is discussing ways to “minimise negative reaction”. And authorities are considering amending and “softening” the proposals “depending on the severity of the reaction”, a government source claimed. The source said: “The Presidential administration will now analyse how the bill will be perceived. It will be softened if there is a hugely negative reaction. “If there is none however, they will then leave it as it is.”

The announcement was made immediately after Russia's 5-0 win

A recent opinion poll published by state media revealed that 92 percent of Russians are opposed to p