The size of retirement benefits in the new Russian regions will compare to Russia’s average, said Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Security Andrey Pudov at a meeting of the Russian parliament committee on labor, social policy and veterans’ affairs.   “In awarding pensions to residents of the DPR, LPR and Zaporozhye and Kherson regions under the Russian law beginning from this date (March 1, 2023), we’ll apply the specifics to increase the size of their pensions to Russia’s average,” TASS quoted Pudov as saying.   A transition period ending February 2024 is envisioned for people of pensionable age so that they can gather the necessary documents to apply. The important point is that we compensate the difference from March,  regardless of the application date during this period. If a resident was on a pension scheme before, we grant a supplement from March, if the right to pension arises in April and the person applies in June, we’ll pay the back pension from April when the right to draw a pension arose,” the deputy minister said.   If the size of the pension granted under the Russian law is below the size of the pension paid in the region, a supplement will be granted, he said.   “We’ve set the norm according to which both the size of the pension and the supplement which is the difference between the pension drawn today and newly granted pension will be indexed each year,” he said.    Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said that pensions in the Lugansk People’s Republic and the other new regions would be granted according to Russian regulations beginning from March 1.   The Lugansk People’s Republic, Donetsk People’s Republic and Zaporozhye and Kherson regions acceded to Russia on September 30, 2022 following the unification referenda. *i*ie