Raising the retirement age will not be considered until at least 2018 — the year of the next presidential election — but people will be encouraged to work longer, the head of the State Pension Fund said Wednesday.
"If life expectancy increases, then the retirement age should also increase. But we do not have any plans in the medium term. The soonest is five years — that is certain," pension fund chief Anton Drozdov said in an interview.
Increasing the pension age, which in Russia is 55 for women and 60 for men, would be one way of reducing the State Pension Fund's spiraling deficit, which is currently covered by direct transfers from the budget.