The Russian website Ukraina.ru reported that according to Social Policy Minister Andriy Reva, Ukraine cut the pension payments for 300,000 Donbas retirees.
Reva did not say that retirees’ pensions were cut off. What he did say is that a government investigation uncovered considerable benefit fraud where fake displaced persons were claiming pensions. Payments were resumed for 143,000 internally displaced Donbas retirees who were determined to be genuine.
Benefit fraud is rife in Ukraine. Public bulletin boards in Donetsk often feature offers for pension claims through middle men and fake identities. More than 300,000 such cases were discovered to have been paid to people who were not internally displaced. These payments were stopped.
