Vyacheslav Grishin, president of the Russian Chernobyl Union non-governmental organization, and Pension Fund Board Deputy Chairman Sergey Chirkov have signed a cooperation agreement. The agreement aims at interaction in the assignment of benefits to veterans of the Chernobyl nuclear accident’s cleanup, nuclear tests conducted at the Semipalatinsk range and similar events.
The cooperation agreement implies joint conferences and events, as well as processing of applications for pension and social benefits. A working group has been set up on the basis of Pension Fund offices and the Chernobyl Union in Bryansk to address the matters. Group members will be monitoring the provision of support to people exposed to radiation.
Currently, the Pension Fund provides people exposed to radiation accidents with early insurance or state pension, in addition to the monthly social benefit. Some of these people are entitled to the simultaneous assignment of two pensions and two monthly social benefits. These include disabled veterans of the Chernobyl nuclear accident’s cleanup.
Starting next year, the Pension Fund will be providing additional benefits to the Chernobyl veterans and persons with a similar status. The measures will include monthly benefits to people who lived or worked in the areas contaminated with radiation and families with children younger than three.
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The agreement with the Chernobyl Union was signed at the Russian Pension Fund on November 30, on the sidelines of a meeting of the PFR commission for public and client service improvement. The commission consists of activists of the People’s Fund and the Council of Mothers, as well as representatives of the Russian Union of Pensioners, the Federation Council, the Higher School of Economics, and some other entities.
The commission aims at optimizing processes of PFR client service. Non-governmental organizations assist in the Fund operations, analyze applications from citizens, and test new services. The PFR takes into account all proposals put forward by the commission in the development of services’ network.