The Social Fund will start assigning pensions and social benefits in new regions from March 1

The Social Fund of Russia will start providing federal support measures in the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions from March 1, the press service of the Ministry of Labor reports.

“Citizens can already apply to the Fund’s departments for advice, start preparing the necessary documents. From March 1, the Social Fund will begin assigning pensions and payments for temporary disability in the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions,” said Anton Kotyakov, Minister of Labor and Social Protection, quoted by the press service of the department.

From March, residents of the new regions will also be able to receive mandatory social insurance payments. In particular, benefits for pregnancy and childbirth, temporary disability, childcare up to 1.5 years for working citizens. To calculate the amount of benefits, data on labor income from the moment the regions became part of the Russian Federation will be used.

On February 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed laws on the specifics of pensions, social insurance and the provision of social support measures for citizens living in new regions. The document establishes a transitional period until 2027.

In December last year, the president announced that the annexed regions should be brought to national levels by 2030. Then Putin instructed the government to prepare a program for the development of new regions during the first quarter of this year. At the same time, Putin stressed that in the subjects, as in other regions of the country, social security standards, a maternity capital program and an increase in pensions would appear.

On September 30, 2022, the President of the country and the leaders of the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions signed agreements on the entry of these regions into the Russian Federation. According to Putin, after the signing of the document, the inhabitants of these regions “become citizens of the Russian Federation forever.”