Monetary allowance is not allowed to stop without a trace

The Presidential Council for Human Rights (HRC) is preparing a package of proposals to the government of the Russian Federation to solve the problems of military personnel in the NVO zone and their families. The key point should be payments to the families of the missing, Valery Fadeev, head of the HRC, told Kommersant. Basic payments in the amount of 195 thousand rubles. stop, according to him, from the moment the fact of the disappearance of a member of the SVO is established, while his family is left without a livelihood. Nina Ostanina, chairwoman of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children, also suggested continuing to pay money to relatives of servicemen, “whose whereabouts, as well as information about their state of health. The letter addressed to Mikhail Mishustin refers to the right of families to “50 percent monetary allowance until the fate is clarified” of each military man.

At the end of January, the HRC, as Kommersant reported, created a temporary working group “on special operation issues.” By February, the group began to prepare a package of proposals “on problems requiring prompt solutions.” They plan to send them to the government of the Russian Federation in the coming days. The head of the Human Rights Council, Valery Fadeev, explained to Kommersant that one of the main topics of appeal to the Cabinet of Ministers will be cash payments (or rather, their absence) to the families of the military who went missing in the NVO zone. The basic amount of such payments, he recalled, is 195 thousand rubles. per month.

“Until the death of a serviceman is confirmed, until his status is clear – whether he is in captivity or died – it is impossible to stop payments to families,” said Mr. Fadeev. “b”), this is a different question, and it needs to be resolved with the deputies: should we continue to pay the full amount or part of it? But you can’t leave your family without money.”

The head of the council found it difficult to name the number of appeals from citizens received by human rights activists on this issue. The number of those who are listed as missing in the NVO zone is “classified information” at all, he noted. The Ministry of Defense did not answer the corresponding question from Kommersant.

On Friday, the head of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children, Nina Ostanina, also sent a letter to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin about the lack of payments to the families of the missing. The committee is approached by the wives of the missing military, “whose whereabouts, as well as information about their state of health, is not available,” the letter says. “Money allowance for such servicemen is not accrued from the moment the fact of missing persons is established,” Ms. Ostanina writes to Prime Minister Mishustin. She also points to the “difficult financial situation” of families that are “on the brink of survival” and the situation is aggravated by the “factor of uncertainty” about the condition of the breadwinner.

In an interview with Kommersant, Nina Ostanina explained that she sent a letter to the prime minister from Abakan, where, as part of a working trip, she met with employees of a local clothing factory. “One seamstress has a husband in the special operation zone, his son is 17 years old. For two months, the fate of her husband is unknown, the commander of the unit does not know anything, – said Nina Ostanina. – The seamstress’s hands are swollen due to nerves, she cannot work, there is no money, no social benefits are received for her son at the age of 17. The director of the factory agreed that the son of a seamstress should at least be fed free of charge at a vocational school.”

This story, according to the deputy, shows that military personnel – “whether contracted or volunteered” – send monthly payments to their families. She calls the current situation with the termination of payments “abnormal”. “When we asked Finance Minister Anton Siluanov about payments, he said: “Everything up to the ruble has been transferred to the Ministry of Defense,” Nina Ostanina noted. “If the money is transferred for each mobilized, then they are in the Ministry of Defense. And, therefore, before the status is clarified, at least half should be sent to relatives. ”

It is about half of the payments due to the military that is mentioned in the letter of the head of the “family” committee of the State Duma to the head of government: “We ask you to instruct to provide for the missing servicemen a 50 percent payment of monetary allowance with the transfer of funds to the family until the fate of the serviceman is clarified, taking into account all the circumstances of what happened “.

At the same time, the HRC notes that the problems of the military, which the government should pay attention to, are not limited to the lack of payments to the families of the missing. Valery Fadeev pointed out that the HRC’s package of proposals will also deal with the need to establish uninterrupted communications between soldiers and their families. “At the plenary meeting of the HRC (held on January 24.— “b”) it turned out that letters and parcels go for weeks and not all of them reach,” he reminded. “This must be resolved in the near future. Other proposals will include everything related to the rights of servicemen and what the president paid attention to in his instructions following the December meeting with the HRC.”

Maria Starikova