UrBC, Moscow, September 26, 2016. Russia’s Finance Ministry suggested not paying any pensions to people who’ve reached the retirement age but are still employed and earn over 500,000 RUR a year, Kommersant reports.

They also have some less harsh proposals, with no-pension threshold at over 1m RUR a year.

The Finance Ministry also recommends canceling the flat payment of 4,559 RUR a month for those whose income exceeds 2.5 living wages (22,000 RUR a month). The goal is to keep the federal budget balanced in 2017-2019.

According to the officials, the no-pension amendment for those with income of over 1m RUR a year will touch upon 90,000 people; lifting the flat payment some 2m people. This will mean 450bn RUR in budget savings over the course of three years.

‘Let’s be honest, those who earn more than 1m RUR a month do not need a state pension,’ the ministry officials say.

Now three days before the recent elections, the Russian Government adopted a draft bill on a one-time allowance of 5,000 RUR for all the retirees that should be paid in January 2017. Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev said this would require 221bn RUR from budget funds.