Residents of the new territories of Russia left a special retirement age

The State Duma adopted in the first reading a bill on the specifics of pension provision in the territory of the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. A government spokesman said that three of the four regions have already adopted their documents on a phased transition to the all-Russian retirement age by 2032, but did not say anything specific about their content. However, by the second reading of the bill, the date of the end of the transition period may be changed, according to the relevant Duma committee.

The State Duma discussed four bills at once, which, as Deputy Labor Minister Andrey Pudov put it, “are designed to ensure the integration of the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions into the Russian pension and social security system” and fix “a number of important features” of the transition period. According to him, the government relied “on the experience of integrating the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol”, and on the so-called. In the “new territories” branches of the Pension and Social Insurance Fund (Sotsfond) have already started operating – although not yet “in the normal mode”.

The draft law on pensions raised a lot of questions among the deputies. Mr. Pudov assured that from March 1, 2023, the rules prescribed in it “will allow the majority of residents of the region to increase the amount of payments they receive and reach the all-Russian level of pension provision.”

To accrue or recalculate a pension, you will need to apply to the Social Fund branch at the place of residence between March 1, 2023 and February 29, 2024 and submit the necessary documents confirming the length of service, “since the fund, due to objective circumstances, has such data in its databases no,” although “we did our best to preserve the archives that were on the territory of the regions, and we have most of the archives.” Most, but not all.

If the documents are lost, you will have to apply to special interdepartmental commissions for the implementation of pension, labor and social rights, present “indirect” confirmation of the fact of work and length of service – witnesses, for example. On January 12, the government of the Russian Federation adopted a resolution on the procedure for creating commissions: they will include regional officials, representatives of trade unions and employers’ associations.

The bill refers to those who permanently resided in the territories of the new constituent entities of the Russian Federation on September 30, 2022 (this is the date of their accession to Russia), as well as those who lived in the territory of the DPR and LPR from May 11, 2014 to September 29 2022, but then moved to Russia.

And more about those who lived on the territory of the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions between February 24, 2022 and September 29, 2022, but, fleeing hostilities, left “outside the indicated territories for the Russian Federation.”

The deputies asked what to do with those who left the territory of these regions when they were Ukrainian, and now faced problems in calculating pensions, but Mr. Pudov specifically emphasized that the rules under discussion apply only to citizens who lived in these territories during the indicated time periods , those who left for Russia earlier will be dealt with “individually”.

If, as a result of recalculating the pension according to Russian rules, the amount will turn out to be less than the citizen received before, an additional payment is promised to the previous level. Moreover, the pensions themselves and additional payments will be indexed according to the same rules and in the same volume as in Russia as a whole.

One of the main features of the transition period is that the retirement age in the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions will differ from the national one.

The retirement age in Russia has been gradually increasing since 2019, now it is 57.5 years for women and 62.5 years for men, and by 2028 it will reach 60 and 65 years respectively.

At the same time, in the DPR and LPR, women retire at 55, and men at 60, and in Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, as in Ukraine, at 60, both men and women…

The text of the bill only states that residents of the “new territories” who do not yet receive pensions under the laws of the Russian Federation, but in the period from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2032, have reached the age that entitles them to an old-age pension under the laws of the DPR, LPR , Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, will be able to apply for accrual of pensions or pension payments and receive them “on the terms and in the manner” prescribed in the regional legislation.

“Until the moment of assigning pensions under Russian law (that is, in accordance with the all-Russian retirement age – “MK”.) citizens of the “new territories” will retain the right to regional pension payments in the same amount, Mr. Pudov explained. “Now three subjects have already adopted their regional acts, according to which the same smooth transition is provided as in Russia,” a government spokesman said, without saying anything about the content of these documents.

The head of the Committee on Labor and Social Policy, Yaroslav Nilov (LDPR), however, did not rule out in his speech that the year of the end of the transition period “may be adjusted” by the second reading…