I’ve wanted to speak out on this for a very long time, and I kept thinking about how not just to speak out, but to actually propose something. Before every Victory Day holiday (marking the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II), there are two things that are unbearable to look at: - the size of the pension paid to our war veterans. - Putin, exploiting impoverished old people. And right now, using them for his own “reset” (a reference to the constitutional changes allowing him to remain in power). Do you know what pension our veteran gets — someone who actually fought in the war, who took part in combat? 35,000–43,000 rubles. The lowest of all. Compare that with other countries (converted into rubles): in the United States, they receive from 188,000 to 431,000 a month.  In France — 99,000. In the United Kingdom — from 139,000 to 626,000 rubles depending on service. Those are the Allies. But what about the defeated countries? Finland — 158,000 a month Japan — from 80,000 to 470,000 rubles a month And finally, Germany pays Wehrmacht veterans from 111,000 to 626,000 rubles a month. It’s simply disgraceful. Let’s put our authorities in a position they won’t like. Let’s support a bill under which a Russian war veteran must receive a pension no lower than that of a soldier of the German Wehrmacht. The petition is in my profile — sign it and send it to people you know. If they raise the pensions, great — we’ll have achieved our goal. But if they don’t, then every time Putin and the other United Russia politicians take the podium to talk about how much they love veterans, we’ll ask them: my friend, when it came time to vote, whom did you choose? Our veteran or a Wehrmacht soldier? There are very few real veterans who actually took part in the war left now. Just 75,000 people, and all of them are very elderly — over 93 years old. In the next couple of years, sadly, they will all pass away. But let at least those who remain learn that the state and the people valued their sacrifice and ensured them a dignified life.