On Wednesday, January 2, Russian President signed a law increasing the retirement age for Russia’s senior government officials to 70.

      The bill, introduced by President Putin personally, was approved by Russia’s lower and upper houses of parliament on December 19 and December 26, respectively. Practically, the new law abolishes the initiative of the previous Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to rejuvenate Russia’s government by imposing the mandatory retirement age of 60, or 65 in certain cases.

      As it is said in the official statement, the introduction of this law "will allow to keep highly qualified and experienced civil servants as upper level personnel in the federal civil service."