Vladimir Putin: The pension system has outlived itself

The current pension system has outlived itself and is in need of improvement, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in the Kremlin on Wednesday during a meeting concerning pension reform issues. "The pension system has outlived itself. We are spending what we collect," the president said. At the same time, he stressed that in improving the current pension system, it is necessary to prevent the amount of pensions from decreasing. Putin emphasized that the new pension system has to meet several requirements. "Part of the pensions should be guaranteed and should not depend on salary or length of time worked. And the other part should depend on a person's concrete activity. Today the levelling principle is in place, Interfax reports. One cannot call it fair," the president said. "The pension's amount should be calculated based on the total amount of a person's earnings, not only on one part of them," he said. The president also stressed that "under the new pension system, all the rights earned by today's pensioners, and also the money earned by people who are not pensioners, should be preserved," the president said.