Recent reductions in pensions and other social benefits in Turkmenistan have caused widespread anxiety among retirees and other beneficiaries of social programs. Deutsche Welle reported that the social-security minister spoke on national television on 30 January, explaining that 100,000 retirees will no longer receive pensions while the pensions of 200,000 others have been reduced. \"Vremya novostei\" reported that the reductions began in January, although the government provided incomplete information and many pensioners only learned of the changes once they tried to pick up discontinued payments. The newspaper reported that President Saparmurat Niyazov signed a law on 25 January ordering some pensioners to repay sums they had already received as a result of alleged miscalculations. Both reports indicated that the reductions sparked panic among beneficiaries who had rely on pensions to survive. Central Asia analyst Michael Laubsch told \"Vremya novostei\" that Niyazov is \"consciously embarking on the destruction of the elderly segment of the population, which still remembers the time before Niyazov and is thus socially dangerous to him.\" (RFE/RL)