Putin to walk back some pension reforms that proved unpopular in Russia

President Vladimir Putin toldRussians on Wednesday he hasdecided to dilute unpopular draftlegislation to reform the pension system that has hurt his ownpopularity, but said a shrinking workforce meant some kind ofreform was necessary.

Addressing the nation on television, Putin said theretirement age for women should be raised by five years rather than the eight years proposed by the government, and madedetailed proposals to soften other aspects of the legislation.

"The demographic development and labour market trends and anobjective analysis of the situation show that we can't put thisoff any longer. But our decisions must be fair, balanced andabsolutely take into account people's interests," said Putin.

"That's why I am proposing a raft of measures that willallow us to soften the decisions taken as much as possible."

Disparity in life expectancy

The original proposals, which envisaged raising theretirement age to 65 from 60 for men and to 63 from 55 for women, have pushed Putin's own popularity down to its lowestlevel in more than four years and stirred protests.

Putin said the draft legislation going through the StateDuma, the lower house of parliament, would be amended to reflecthis own ideas in the near future.

He did not propose reducing the proposed age at which menwill retire. In Russia, the average life expectancy for women is 78 and 67 for men.

Opinion polls showed that about 90 per cent of thepopulation opposed the original proposals, and Putin's political opponents, including opposition leader Alexei Navalny, havetried to tap into public anger by organising protests.

A court sentenced Navalny to 30 days in jail on Mondayafter convicting him of breaking public protest laws, a move hesaid was illegal and aimed at stopping him leading a rallyagainst pension reform next month.

With files from The Associated Press