Moskovsky Komsomolets
Government set to raise retirement age
Although plans to raise the retirement age in Russia have reportedly been put on the back burner, the other day we were all reminded not to become too complacent.
Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Shatalov told the Ekho Moskvy radio station on Tuesday that nationwide the retirement age will inevitably be raised to 65 years. “I think we will inevitably have to discuss the issue of increasing the retirement age. It will not happen overnight. It will be a gradual stage-by-stage process. Six or, maybe, four months will be added each year. And it will take us 15 years to reach a retirement age of 65,” Shatalov said.
He said, people need to be given time “to adapt, to prepare themselves and to become accustomed to the idea. If this decision is made gradually, people approaching retirement age will barely notice anything, while young people will view it as a remote prospect. And I think they will react to this with greater understanding.”
Shatalov believes that this difficult decision will have to be made sooner or later. “All states have done this, although admittedly it is not a smooth process. Remember how it went in Ukraine,” he said.
Moreover, Shatalov mentioned a possible post-election tax hike in 2013, after the presidential elections, but the Ministry of Finance will do everything within their power to prevent this. “We will do everything we can to avoid raising taxes, although I don’t rule out that such decisions may be passed. Everything depends on our ability to cut back on spending,” Shatalov said. He believes there are ways of reducing state spending.
It is worth noting that Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada voted for a gradual increase (five years in total) in the retirement age for women. The vote was held in early July 2011 and the proposed reforms won majority support. The law comes into force on January 1, 2012, and under it the retirement age will be increased by six months each year for the next ten years. Ukrainian women will eventually retire at 60, rather than 55. Men employed by the civil service will be eligible for retirement at 62, not 60.
BACKGROUND
The current retirement age in Russia is 60 years for men and 55 years for women. A possible increase in the retirement age has been discussed for many years. In 2010, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin noted that the decision will need to be made within the next five years. In May this year, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the government may reconsider retirement age in five years’ time.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
Criminal cases against repentant businessmen to be dropped
President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday met with judges of arbitration and general courts to discuss the courts’ influence on Russia’s investment climate. Vyacheslav Lebedev, chairman of the Supreme Court, reported on legislative proposals to soften sentences for businessmen. The State Duma is ready to discuss them in early fall.
Medvedev reminded the judges that foreigners investing in the Russian economy “expect stability, predictability and the effective protection of their rights.” He said the investment climate is not very good in Russia “but it is changing, according to our partners, including foreigners, who said drawbacks in the justice system were among the main reasons why they feared investing in Russia several years ago.” The West now criticizes only “individual court decisions, which is normal and similar to the practice in other countries,” the president said.
However, he is worried by the growing number of cases sent to court, in particular bankruptcy cases. He said that, according to the Supreme Arbitration Court, there has been an 18-fold increase in the number of bankruptcy cases over the past two years. Medvedev is also concerned over the “unbearable burden this puts on the courts,” which “will always impact the quality of court decisions.” He mentioned out-of-court settlements as a positive alternative, which also serve to decrease the level of conflict in society.
Supreme Court Chairman Lebedev said a bill on dropping cases against repentant business people who “cease their criminal activity and pay damages” could be sent to the parliament in the fall. After the meeting he told the media: “We propose that criminal cases are closed provided the guilty party ends their criminal activity, cooperates with the investigators and helps solve the crime.” If damage has already been done, the case should only be closed where the guilty party agrees to pay compensation. “Our goal is not to take revenge or to punish, but to ensure that the guilty person becomes aware of the unlawfulness of his actions and mends his ways.”
Vladimir Gruzdev, first deputy chairman of the State Duma committee on law, said they support Lebedev’s initiative and even think that “cases of economic crime should be opened only at the express request of the injured party.” Gruzdev recalled that the presidential draft law on modernizing the Criminal Code, which has been submitted to the parliament, includes clauses on damages and very high fines. He said the State Duma will hear the bill as soon as it reconvenes in the fall.
Vladimir Pligin, chairman of the State Duma committee on constitutional legislation, said not every guilty businessman deserves to be pardoned and that each case should be considered on its individual merits. “If business is only a cover for fraud, the case should not be closed simply because those involved have repented and stopped their criminal activity,” he said.
Gazeta.ru
U.S. State Department hits out at “Magnitsky list” officials
The U.S. State Department has introduced sanctions against officials mentioned in the “Magnitsky list” without waiting for the Senate to ban U.S. entry and freeze the assets of people believed to be involved in the death in detention of a Hermitage Capital Management lawyer. So far the sanctions concern only entry into the United States, according to U.S. diplomatic sources.
The United States is the first country to back their words with actions and issue entry bans for Russian officials on the Magnitsky list. Their decision has been reported in The Washington Post.
Not all 60 names originally on the list drawn up by U.S. Senator Benjamin Cardin are subject to an entry ban. Cardin’s list initially included all staff members of Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office, Interior Ministry, tax authorities and courts whose decisions had a bearing on Magnitsky’s fate.
These names were passed to Cardin by colleagues of Sergei Magnitsky, a Hermitage Capital Management lawyer who died in 2009 in a Butyrka pretrial detention center. Cardin reviewed this list and submitted an act to the Senate that not only included the names of those officials responsible for Magnitsky’s death but also all those “involved in torturing and killing people seeking to publish facts about Russian officials’ unlawful activities.”
A Hermitage Capital spokesman told Gazeta.ru that Magnitsky’s colleagues welcomed the State Department’s move and hoped the list would be expanded.
The State Department introduced the sanctions ahead of the Senate not to sour relations with Moscow too much.
The U.S. executive branch already has the right to ban foreign nationals’ entry to the United States or freeze their accounts and property, say WP sources. One source said the list was cut back because U.S. officials have to be very particular about having evidence for introducing these measures against people who have not been tried and sentenced for a crime.
Last week the State Department for the first time hinted to senators that it was giving serious thought to introducing a ban on Russian officials’ entry into the United States.
The same document, quoted by The Washington Post, indicates that “senior Russian government officials have warned us that they will respond asymmetrically if this legislation is passed.” They were referring to State Duma deputy Maksim Mishchenko’s initiative to introduce similar sanctions against American officials who persecute Russian nationals.
But, as the Americans have pointed out, a Russian response could be much more serious.
“Their argument,” the State Department says regarding these signals from Moscow, “is that we cannot expect them to act as our partner in backing sanctions against countries like Iran, North Korea, and Libya, while slapping sanctions on them at the same time.” Russia has threatened to review its decision on U.S. transit to Afghanistan if this legislation is passed.
Approached by Gazeta.ru, Russia’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment.
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