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OSCE coordinator says Kiev should pay pensions to residents of east Ukraine conflict zone

Kiev officially discontinued pension payments and social security benefits to residents of the Donbas territories uncontrolled by Ukraine on December 1, 2014

© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

MOSCOW, November 24. /TASS/. The OSCE coordinator at the Contact Group’s economic subgroup supports the demand of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics (DPR, LPR) for the partial restoration of payment of pensions and social security benefits, Donetsk News Agency reported on Tuesday citing a source close to the negotiation process.

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"The OSCE coordinator supports the republic’s demand for payment of pensions to people residing in the DPR and LPR and for a simpler procedure for issuing retirement benefit documents as well as in all matters related to the restoration of infrastructure," the source said.

Kiev officially discontinued pension payments and social security benefits to residents of the Donbas territories uncontrolled by Ukraine on December 1, 2014. In actual fact, the payments stopped in the summer of 2014. However, the resumption of pension payments by Ukraine is envisaged in paragraph 8 of the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements of February 12 signed by the "Normandy Four."

Deputy chairperson of the Budget Committee of the DPR People’s Council Yekaterina Gubareva earlier said that Ukraine’s total debt to pensioners in the Donbas region exceeded 10 billion hryvnias (more than $416 million at the current exchange rate).

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