The Communist Party and Rodina, the nationalist faction, called for the vote after tens of thousands of pensioners protested against laws replacing benefits such as free transport with meagre cash payments.

The protests have grown into the most widespread unrest of President Putin’s five years in office and are set to escalate on Saturday, when hundreds of thousands are expected to join nationwide demonstrations.

The no-confidence motion was expected to fail after the head of the pro-Kremlin United Russia bloc, which controls 306 of the Duma’s 450 seats, said that it would back the Government.

In the event 112 deputies voted for the motion, far short of the 226 votes needed. The surprise was that only 20 voted against it, while 4 abstained. The rest, almost all United Russia deputies, did not cast their votes so as to distance themselves from a policy disaster.

“We are seeing a very dangerous trend: amid a favorable economic situation, social tension is higher than ever,” Oleg Morozov, a United Russia member and deputy parliament Speaker, said. “The social price of mistakes is rising.”

Some analysts said that the boycott was designed to deflect criticism from Mr Putin and United Russia, which hurried the law through parliament. Nevertheless, it represented a victory for the Opposition, which has been steadily brought under the Kremlin’s control under Mr Putin.

Deputies laughed derisively as Mikhail Fradkov, the Prime Minister, who was appointed by Mr Putin last year, apologised. “The Government takes complete responsibility for the organisation and conduct of this reform,” he said. “We should have calculated every possible detail and weighed up all risks and consequences.”

Protesters say that the new cash payments cover only a fraction of the services that they used to get free and are rarely paid on time or in full.

Many local authorities have reintroduced free transport and the Government has raised pensions and some salaries to try to contain the protests. Yesterday Mr Fradkov said that the Government would aim to double the average monthly wage — now about £200 — by 2008. Deputies told the Cabinet, however, that it had two months to correct its mistakes or face another confidence vote.

Gennadi Zyuganov, the Communist leader, repeated his call for the Government to resign, saying that the new law was a national disgrace. “Russia has turned into an antisocial state, in which the citizens are only an object of super-exploitation,” he said.

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