Russian State Duma deputies want to deprive emigrants of their Russian pensions
The document provides for the termination of pension payments to Russian citizens if they have been abroad for more than 183 days in the last 12 months. If a person returns to Russia and stays for more than half a year, pension payments are restored.
According to the statistics of the Pension Fund of Russia, in 2014, 265.2 thousand Russian pensioners living abroad received 31.4 billion rubles. The largest number of Russian pension recipients lives in Germany – 96.9 thousand people. In second place is Israel (40.5 thousand), in third – Latvia (21.5 thousand), in fourth – the United States (20.3 thousand).
There is no exact date yet when the bill will be considered by the Russian parliament. But it is already known that LDPR leader Zhirinovsky supports his party colleague and advises emigrant pensioners to move to Crimea.
Of course, this news will come as a shock to thousands of elderly Russians in Germany. Not so much for economic reasons (for many, the Russian pension is still deducted from the amount of social benefits), but for ethical reasons: the State Duma seems to be punishing pensioners for their unquestioning loyalty to Russia. It is no secret that it was among the 65+ Russian-speaking audience that support for the annexation of Crimea and Russia's activities in Donbas, condemned by the EU and the international community, was highest. Russian pensioners living in Germany flooded our editorial office with letters and calls last spring and summer, demanding an end to "criticism of Putin and Russia."
"Russia does not abandon its own – and that is why the West opposes it" – that is how our elderly readers explained Russia's actions in Crimea and Donbas, exclusively by concern for Russian and Russian-speaking compatriots.
By winter, however, passions had cooled down. And in the new year, the mail stopped bringing indignant petitions from "loyal patriots of Russia" altogether.
(To not offend anyone, I will say in parentheses: the absolute majority of these very "loyal patriots," Obama-haters and bearers of the slogan "what does Merkel think she's doing," had no intention of giving up full social security and free medical care in Germany in exchange for the same Russian pension. Although the social welfare office is also ready to accept such an option. Moreover, these very "patriots" sent us dozens of collective letters demanding that the pension not be deducted from the German social benefit: because they "earned it through hard work." It was implied that full state support – subsistence minimum, medical care, housing, elderly care, and many other social benefits unthinkable in Russia – was due to these people simply because they had graced Germany with their presence.)
In December of last year, the unexpected practical application of the Law on Dual Citizenship was a cold shower for many Russians in Germany: the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation opened a criminal case against a Russian citizen with a residence permit in another country who was trying to leave through the Ivangorod border checkpoint.
Some readers assumed that the incident in Ivangorod was a simple overreach. But last week, the TASS news agency informed: "About 70 thousand Russians have been held accountable for concealing dual citizenship or a residence permit in less than a year since the law requiring Russian citizens to notify the FMS of this came into effect." The head of the Federal Migration Service, Konstantin Romodanovsky, told TASS in an interview. TASS quotes the official's statement: "A person may be honestly mistaken, thinking that they have renounced their previous citizenship, but it formally remains. We need to be a bit gentler here so that people have time to sort this out."
He also gave good news: the deadline for submitting notifications has now been extended to 2016. For another 9 months, one can travel to Russia without fear of ending up in jail or becoming barred from leaving the country simply because of a modest "honest mistake."
Probably, the State Duma bill "On the Peculiarities of Paying Pensions to Pensioners Permanently Residing Abroad" will not become law in its most extreme form. Most likely, it will be softened, altered, or trimmed. But even if the bill is shelved altogether – the trace of it cannot be erased or washed away: because the deputies only wanted to reach into the pockets of emigrant pensioners, but they struck people right in the soul.
Arseniy KAMATOZOV.
«Русская Германия»