Busy with pension reform, the Russian government puts off higher highway tolls for another year

It seems the federal government would rather not deal with protesting truckers and demonstrating pensioners all in the same year. On Friday, Prime Minister Medvedev signed a government order postponing fee hikes to the “Platon” highway toll system by 12 months. Officials originally planned to raise the tolls last year from 1.9 rubles per kilometer (almost five cents per mile) to 3.06 rubles per kilometer (almost eight cents per mile).

The “Platon” system was introduced in November 2015, sparking major protests by freight truckers across the country. Truckers have also demonstrated against the government’s plans to raise the tolls.