The State Duma (Russia’s lower chamber of parliament) denounced the agreement on pension guarantees for citizens of the CIS countries, which has been in force since 1992. The decision was formalized as a federal law, The Moscow News reports.
Russia will withdraw from the agreement on January 1, 2023. The explanatory note says that this will save the budget of the Pension Fund of Russia (PFR). According to the forecast, in 2023 alone, the savings will amount to about 2.7 billion rubles. In 2024, it will reach 5.6 billion rubles, in 2025 – 9.7 billion rubles.
Instead, Russia will switch to bilateral agreements with the CIS countries. New documents were reportedly already signed with Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Payments on them will be carried out after the denunciation, that is, from next year. In addition to these countries, the CIS includes Azerbaijan, Moldova, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Ukraine was also one of the parties to the de-announced agreement.
Deputy Minister of Labor of the Russian Federation Andrey Pudov said that such a decision would only benefit people. According to him, now there will be no situations when entire periods since 2002 fall out of their experience.
The denounced agreement is outdated. Its participants moved from the state pension system to the formation of pensions based on paid insurance premiums. Besides, due to the growth of migration to Russia, the costs of implementing the agreement increased, since it applied to citizens without work experience or with a minimum work experience in the USSR, and such people did not contribute to the country’s economy.
Under the new agreements, the length of service received in the territory of the CIS member states will be summed up, and each of the countries will pay only its part, in accordance with pensions in its territory.
The cancellation of the previous agreement will not affect the current pensioners in any way; the PFR will continue to pay them pensions in full.
