October 13, 2025
By Paul Goble
The average pension in the Russian Federation has fallen this year to 24 percent of average wages and salaries of working-age Russians, the lowest share in 17 years, according to Rosstat, the Russian government’s own statistical arm and a trend that hits the age group which has been Vladimir Putin’s most reliable supporters.
One of the reasons that this has happened is that the government distributes most of the pensions in the Russian Federation and thus is in a position to hold pensions constant or even reduce them so as to shift money to the needs of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine (iz.ru/1969906/milana-gadzhieva/raznica-s-vozrastom-srednij-razmer-pensij-prosel-nizhe-chetverti-ot-zarplat).
So far the political impact of this decline has been relatively small because wages and salaries have increased sufficiently and thus pensions have risen in absolute terms even if not in relative ones. But the possibility that pensioners will compare where they stand with those still working is real and may be exploited by some candidates in the coming Duma elections.
But because of that possibility, the Kremlin is likely to try to find ways to boost pensions in the coming months – and some may press for a rapid end to the war in Ukraine lest its continuance leads Putin’s most reliable supporters up to now to change their minds and oppose him.
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