In Russia, the number of pensions for the loss of a breadwinner has increased to a record

Over the past hour in Russia, the number of recipients of a breadwinner’s pension has increased to a record. Compared to 2021, there were 9 thousand more recipients of such pensions, according to the publication “Vazhnye istorii”, which studied the data of the Ministry of Defense of Russia on the number of pensioners of different categories for the past hour.

The sharpest increase in the death of breadwinners was recorded in Tuva, where the number of pension recipients increased by 403% compared to 2021. A strong increase is also observed in the Republic of Altai (76%) and in Buryatia (72%).

In 2021, the number of breadwinner pension recipients increased by 300 compared to the previous year, approximately the same figure has been maintained since 2016. But in 2022, 9,000 more people began to receive pensions, almost all of them relatives of Russian soldiers who died in the war in Ukraine.

In seven regions of Russia, the increase in pension recipients in 2022 exceeded 50% compared to 2021, including the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug (56%), the Republic of Koma, Kalmykia, and Karachay-Cherkessia. Among the federal districts, the highest growth is in the Far Eastern and Urals, the lowest – in the Central, Siberian, North-Western federal districts, as well as the annexed Crimea.

As Sibir.Realii emphasizes, the actual number of dead is unknown. The pension statistics include data only on those relatives who were able to pass all bureaucratic instances and issue a pension. The Ministry of Defense does not reveal the figures of losses.

Journalists also note the increase in the number of registered Russians with disabilities in the Federal Register of Disabled Persons. Important Histories calculated that from February 24, 2022 to May 2023, 4,500 participants in the war in Ukraine could receive military disability. However, receiving disability is a long process, so the data does not include all people who were injured in the war.

• The Ministry of Defense of Russia has not reported the number of casualties among the Russian military for more than nine months. On the basis of open sources, BBC and Mediazony journalists established the names of more than 25,500 Russian soldiers who died in the war in Ukraine. Investigators emphasize that this is only the one whose death has been confirmed. The real number of losses can be at least twice as high.