This is huge news. The rebel Donbass republics are finally going to start their own pension fund, and pay the pensions for Donbass retirees abandoned by Ukrainian government
This article originally appeared at Lenta.ru. It was translated for RI by Johanna Ganyukova
From April this year, the Donetsk People’s Republic will begin the regular payment of pensions in Russian roubles. This is a result of a decree issued by the head of the DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic), Aleksandr Zakharchenko, according to the Donetsk News Agency.
As the document states, the DPR pension fund will be created in order to “begin the regular payment of pension to citizens entitled to a state pension and who are present in the records of the Donetsk People’s Republic.”
Pensions will be paid in Russian roubles “according to a pre-determined fixed currency rate of the Ukrainian Hryvnia to the Russian rouble of 1:2”.
The responsibility of payment and delivery of pensions will lie with the Central Republican Bank and the state institution “Donbass Post”.
As a reminder, in November 2014 the Ukrainian government ceased payment to pensioners residing in the territory of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lukhansk People’s Republics. Ukrainian First Minister, Arsenii Yatsenuk announced that these regions would not receive subsidies while they are “controlled by imposters”.