The authorities' report on pension savings payments has caused skepticism among the residents of Kabardino-Balkaria.
Since the beginning of the year, residents of Kabardino-Balkaria have received pension savings totaling more than 134 million rubles, reported the Social Fund. Local residents, commenting on this report on social media, stated that after decades of work, they have not received any pension savings. They complained about unproductive appeals to the fund and pointed out the meager amounts of payments, including 2500 rubles for 46 years of service.
According to the branch of the Social Fund in Kabardino-Balkaria, since the beginning of the current year, pension savings in the form of a one-time payment have been paid to 1798 residents of the republic.
"The total amount of funds transferred was more than 134 million rubles," – reported RIA "Kabardino-Balkaria" citing the Social Fund of the Russian Federation.
The Social Fund's report was published on October 23 by the Instagram*-public chp.nalchik, which has about 530 thousand followers. As of 09:40 Moscow time on October 24, this post received 435 likes and 107 comments.
Residents of Kabardino-Balkaria expressed doubts about the accuracy of the Social Fund's report on social media. They questioned who received the money and suggested that the payments might have primarily gone to officials.
"What are you doing? Who received it? Why are you writing lies? If three people received it, that doesn't mean everyone did. I personally did not receive anything, why?" – was outraged mesevalidia.
"This is not for us, the ordinary people, it's for pensioner-officials," – suggested irina_vorokova07.
"What nonsense, no one received anything," – wrote manana6852.
Other participants in the discussion complained about difficulties in receiving pension savings. According to them, a long work history does not guarantee the presence of funds in the savings account, and appeals to the Social Fund do not always resolve the issue.
"I don't know who receives these savings. I worked for 45 years, and when I ask about the savings at the pension office, there is always nothing," – said si_nasyp.
"I have been unable to receive these savings for exactly a year, the workers sitting in the Pension Fund do not understand anything. Now I received an SMS from State Services, but where should I get this money? But at the post office, where the address is indicated, there is nothing either. Today I will go argue with them again," – complained 07_07kol.
"No one received anything! Maybe one to three people. Personally, I have approached the Pension Fund several times, and each time they say that we do not have this opportunity in our republic, this is a regional law!" – stated dodueva_.
Other commentators criticized the amount of pension payments and the pension system. Some compared the received amounts with their many years of work experience, while others expressed dissatisfaction with the increase in the retirement age.
"I worked in medicine for 46 years, they paid 2500 and a bunch of occupational diseases," – wrote flora_909_.
"And how much tax was taken, and we received a pittance," – was outraged marina_kurmanova.
"It would have been better if they hadn't raised the retirement age, we lost more than we received," – noted maya_una__.
"Caucasian Knot" also reported that residents of Kabardino-Balkaria periodically express dissatisfaction with pension and social payments. For example, on August 23, residents of the republic complained about difficulties in receiving a new family payment known as tax cashback. According to residents, they have repeatedly submitted applications but received rejections due to exceeding the established income level and the peculiarities of accounting for the earnings of the self-employed. One resident reported that he submitted an application eight times, and the reason for the last rejection was exceeding the income by 38 rubles.
On August 19, residents of Kabardino-Balkaria questioned the data from the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) regarding the size of pensions in the republic. The agency reported that the average pension is about 19,300 rubles, but residents of Kabardino-Balkaria stated that they actually receive smaller amounts. They also criticized the size of pension payments against the backdrop of rising prices.