From March 1, 2023, pensions for residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, as well as Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, will be assigned according to Russian standards.

This was announced on Thursday, January 26, by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin at a government meeting.

For those who now do not have the opportunity to confirm their earnings and experience by providing documents from employers or government agencies, special commissions will work.

These structures will monitor the observance of the rights of citizens, the head of the Cabinet noted.

“Like throughout the country, pensions and bonuses to them will be indexed.

The quality of life of people directly depends on the timely fulfillment of such obligations.

And they must be clearly implemented in every region of the Russian Federation,” Mishustin added.

As the prime minister said, the annexed territories will be connected to a number of other social protection programs.

As a result, the population of the new subjects will be able to take advantage of the same measures of state support as the rest of the Russians.

For this, in particular, the authorities provided for a special procedure for establishing a living wage.

“Its size is used to calculate the amount of assistance, including a single allowance for needy families, which was introduced in the country on January 1 at the initiative of the head of state.

In these four Russian regions, pregnant women, as well as families with children under 17, will receive it, ”the Prime Minister explained.

All-Russian social protection measures will also affect people with disabilities and a number of other privileged categories of citizens, Mishustin added.

In addition, according to him, the new regions will be included in the system of compulsory social insurance.

The law prepared for this guarantees residents the payment of sick leave and the receipt of compensation in case of accidents at work and occupational diseases.

At the same time, they will begin to accrue benefits for pregnancy and childbirth, as well as for caring for a child up to one and a half years.

In addition, in accordance with Russian law, residents of the new entities will be paid unemployment benefits.

This year, the government will allocate more than 1 billion rubles for these purposes.

“Everything must be done to ensure that payments are provided to those who need it.

For this, we will allocate the necessary additional funds," Mishustin said.

At the same time, he noted that it is necessary to inform residents of the annexed territories in detail about innovations in legislation.

“The topics are very sensitive.

People should clearly understand what kind of help they can use, what exactly they are supposed to do as citizens of the Russian Federation, and how it all needs to be properly formalized, ”the prime minister emphasized.

On the same wave

Earlier, President Vladimir Putin instructed the government to take measures to integrate the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions into a single socio-economic space of Russia.

Until the end of March, the Cabinet will have to prepare a special program for the development of new subjects of the federation.

It is planned that by 2030 these regions will finally reach the national level in terms of quality of life.

As the head of state noted, the situation in the annexed territories still remains difficult.

So, peaceful life has not yet been restored everywhere and the safety of people has been ensured, and hostilities are still ongoing in some areas.

Nevertheless, even under these conditions, the authorities should not put off the most pressing issues until later, but solve them now, the Russian leader urged.

“This is what people who are really going through hard times and want to see changes for the better are waiting for.

It is important to set clear, understandable for citizens guidelines for the development of new regions of Russia, so that residents know what will be built in their cities and towns, what facilities will be restored and when, how families' incomes will increase, what assistance they will receive from the state, ”Putin explained.

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As Svetlana Bessarab, a member of the State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans Affairs, told RT, social support will be awarded to those residents of new regions who have already received Russian citizenship.

Payments can be received on a card or in cash via delivery, the deputy added.

In general, according to her, the measures taken will significantly improve the well-being of people in these territories.

“If we take a set of benefits and payments in Russia, then in total it will be more than the Ukrainian authorities provided.

Meanwhile, Donbass was generally in a distressed situation: people had to survive in difficult conditions and circumstances, constantly under pressure from Kyiv.

Now citizens of the new regions will be provided no worse than residents of other regions of Russia, ”said the interlocutor of RT.

An investment in the future

The costs of supporting the annexed regions were taken into account when forming the Russian budget for 2023-2025, Svetlana Bessarab noted.

Thus, the social obligations of the state to all citizens of the country will be fulfilled in full, the deputy is sure.

It should be noted that, according to the authorities, over the next three years, Russian federal budget expenditures will continuously exceed revenues, but this difference should gradually decrease.

It is planned to cover the budget deficit mainly through borrowing, but the government does not expect a significant increase in public debt.

Although at the initial stages assistance to new entities may require significant financial investments, by the end of the next three years, these regions will be able to replenish the state treasury themselves.

Georgy Ostapkovich, director of the Center for Market Research at the Institute for Statistical Research and the Economics of Knowledge at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, shared this opinion in a conversation with RT.

“At first, these, of course, will be exclusively subsidized regions, which Crimea used to be.

First of all, it will be necessary to restore the destroyed infrastructure there and invest in the development of the subjects themselves.

Then, somewhere in two or three years, it will be possible to expect tax revenues from them to the budget, ”concluded Ostapkovich.