Russia approves bill eliminating Soviet-era social benefits

The Associated Press

MOSCOW -- Russia's upper house of parliament approved a controversial social reform bill Sunday ending an array of Soviet-era benefits, including free transportation and medicine, for some of Russia's most impoverished and vulnerable people, including World War II veterans.

The measure, which now goes to President Vladimir Putin for his signature, sparked protests in Moscow and around the nation. Police cordoned off the Federation Council building Sunday but the large protests that marked other key votes on the measure were absent.

The 179-seat Federation Council, which usually rubber-stamps legislation for the Kremlin, approved the government-backed legislation 156-5 with one abstention. The lower house of parliament, which is dominated by the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, approved the measure Thursday.

Putin has said a main goal of his second term is to improve the living standards for millions of impoverished Russians.

The bill replaces many long-standing benefits for an estimated 30 million people -- Russia's elderly, disabled and World War II veterans -- with monthly payments ranging from $5.10 to $53.

The benefits being replaced include free access to urban transportation, free home phone use for local calls, free provision of artificial limbs, job guarantees for the disabled and, for many, free medicine.

Also, some of those receiving cash payments will have to deduct a portion of those funds to participate in a so-called "social package" restoring some of the lost benefits.

Svetlana Orlova, deputy chairwoman of the Federation Council, told the chamber the measure will help streamline the nation's lumbering bureaucracy and direct $171 billion to those needing it.

The government says the move will be a boon to many and will make aid more accurately targeted -- arguing, for example, that public transportation is scarce in rural areas.

But many recipients were outraged. A small group of about 50 protesters Sunday carried placards reading, "Hands off veterans' benefits!"

About six young protesters -- some wearing bright red T-shirts with the letters U.S.S.R. -- slipped inside the police cordon and then refused to budge. Police lifted three of them up and carried them into waiting police vans.

All were later released after being ordered to appear before a judge, the Interfax news agency reported.

Another group of elderly Russians supporting the reform measure also waved signs outside the Federation Council building.

Some regional officials have expressed concern about where they will find the money to make the cash payments. Sergei Mironov, speaker of the Federation Council, noted that "all regions, regardless of their economic situation, must and are required to fulfill all the social mandate -- and the federal center must help them," according to remarks broadcast on Russian state television.

The Federation Council recommended creating a $30 billion reserve fund to help the poorer regions, Mironov said. Also, the federal government should report back every three months on the progress of the reforms, he said.