Today, on 25 April, the Verkhovna Rada adopted in the second reading and in general Bill 9453, which solves several problematic issues with pensions that arose for Ukrainian citizens due to the outbreak of full-scale Russian aggression, according to the Ministry of Social Policy, which developed the bill.
After the large-scale invasion of Russia, Ukraine severed diplomatic relations with the aggressor country. Contacts and document flow between state institutions - including pension funds - were suspended, and the exchange of documents certifying the length of employment and earnings is impossible.
As a result, Ukrainians who moved to Ukraine from the temporarily occupied territories of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk Regions could not fulfil the requirement of the law, which was in force until now, to confirm that they were not receiving a pension from the pension authorities of the Russian Federation, and, accordingly, to receive a pension in Ukraine.
In addition, Russia and Ukraine have withdrawn from the Agreement between the CIS member states on guarantees of the rights of citizens of these countries with regard to pensions. As a result, Ukrainians who worked in Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan for part of their professional lives lost the opportunity to include periods of such work in their pensionable service in Ukraine. This, in turn, led to a reduction in their pension rights and, accordingly, pension amounts (or deprived them of the right to a pension altogether).
The draft law No. 9453 adopted today solves these and a number of other significant problems in the field of pensions.
Firstly, it simplifies the mechanism for resuming pension payments to Crimeans. The requirement to obtain information from the Russian Pension Fund has been cancelled.
From now on, a person who has moved from Crimea will only need to submit an application stating that he or she does not receive a pension in Crimea and wishes to receive it in Ukraine. To calculate the pension, you can provide your employment record book or pension file (if you have it). No confirmation from the Pension Fund of the aggressor country is required.
Secondly, the pensionable service record gained in other countries will be taken into account to determine eligibility for a pension, even if there is no pension agreement with that country.
In other words, a person returning from abroad, for example, from Italy, will be able to count the period of work in that country for determining the right to a pension in Ukraine at the age of 60, 63 or 65. To do this, it will be necessary to provide the Pension Fund with a document confirming work outside Ukraine.
The Ministry notes that only contributions / unified social contribution paid in Ukraine will be taken into account for determining the amount of pension (the so-called "proportional" principle of pension calculation). In other words, the amount of the pension will depend on the amount of insurance contributions paid in Ukraine (the higher the amount of contributions, the higher the pension) and the length of service that a person has accumulated before 1 January 2024, and the time of retirement will take into account work both in Ukraine and abroad.
Thirdly, work for the aggressor country after 2014 will not be included in the pensionable service record in Ukraine.
The law provides that starting from 19 February 2014, periods of military service in the security forces, illegal armed or paramilitary groups, judicial or law enforcement agencies of the aggressor state in the temporarily occupied territories, as well as voluntary positions in illegal authorities, will not be included in the pensionable service record.