The Pension Fund refused to disclose the pension amounts of former high-ranking officials, fearing "destabilization of society"
The Pension Fund of Ukraine believes that providing information about the amounts of pensions paid to specific individuals "will create an illegitimate expectation in society regarding the dissemination of information about all or any of the pension recipients".
This was reported by Deputy Chairman of the Pension Fund Board Iryna Kovpashko in response to the Secretariat of the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada for Human Rights, to whom Glavcom complained.
As early as March 2025, the editorial office requested the management of the Pension Fund to publish the amounts of pensions paid to citizens who held high positions in the country. In particular, Glavcom was interested in the payments concerning 14 former high-ranking officials, most of whom fled Ukraine and, at least for the last ten years, have settled abroad, including in Russia. The list of requested individuals includes:
- former President Viktor Yanukovych,
- former Prime Minister Mykola Azarov,
- Member of Parliament for several terms from the Party of Regions, Oleksandr Yefremov,
- former Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Volodymyr Rybak,
- Member of Parliament for several terms from the Party of Regions, Volodymyr Oliynyk,
- former Minister of Health Raisa Bohatyryova,
- former Chairman of the Antimonopoly Committee Oleksiy Kostusyev,
- former Minister of Education and Science Dmytro Tabachnyk,
- former Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, former advisor to Yanukovych Hanna Herman,
- former Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council Volodymyr Sivkovych,
- former Minister of Defence Pavlo Lebedyev,
- Member of Parliament for several terms from the Party of Regions, Volodymyr Kolesnichenko,
- former Head of the Constitutional Court Oleksandr Tupytskyi.
The first refusal of the Pension Fund to Glavcom’s request came at the end of March and sounded like this: "The disclosure of this information may cause significant harm to these individuals, including psychological pressure, the creation of a tense, hostile, offensive atmosphere, which may lead to negative consequences for their life and health, and the harm from disclosing confidential information will outweigh the public interest in obtaining it."
Following the mentioned refusal, Glavcom complained about the actions of the Pension Fund to the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada for Human Rights. However, this turned out to be fruitless. Deputy Chairman of the Pension Fund Board Iryna Kovpashko emphasized that the payment of pensions at the expense of the Pension Fund of Ukraine cannot be considered the use of budgetary funds. At the same time, she listed the sources of the Pension Fund’s income.
According to her, in Ukraine, 10.3 million people receive pensions. Among them, 816 thousand people receive pension payments financed from the state budget, including 641.3 thousand people—pensions in accordance with the law on pension provision of persons released from military service and some other persons, 22.5 thousand people—pensions according to the law on civil service.
In addition, the leadership of the Pension Fund, in refusing to respond to Glavcom’s request, stated that they lacked information about the existence of an up-to-date public discussion being conducted in the media, parliament, or local council regarding the subject of the information request.
"According to the Pension Fund of Ukraine, providing information about the amounts of pensions paid to specific individuals will create an illegitimate expectation in society regarding the dissemination of information about all or any of the pension recipients, who may include military personnel, law enforcement officers, etc. The consequence may be the destabilization of relations in society, creating grounds for the violation of public order," said the response from Iryna Kovpashko, Chairman of the Pension Fund Board.
Previously, from court materials, Glavcom learned about the size of Raisa Bohatyriova’s pension. As of March 2025, she was receiving an age pension of 21,800 UAH but sought a recalculation upwards. However, the court denied Bohatyriova’s claim against the Pension Fund’s administration.
At the same time, from open registries, Glavcom found out important information about Mykola Azarov’s pension. As it turned out, from April 1, 2015, the Main Administration of the Pension Fund in Kyiv stopped paying the pension to the former high-ranking official. The reason was non-compliance with the requirements of the Procedure for Submitting and Processing Documents for Pension Appointment (Recalculation) in accordance with the Law on Compulsory State Pension Insurance.
On December 21, 2015, the Pechersk District Court seized Mykola Azarov’s pension, prohibiting the Pension Fund from crediting funds. The arrest was requested by a prosecutor’s investigator as part of a criminal case regarding the embezzlement of 220 million UAH of budget funds. In this case, Azarov was charged after the Revolution of Dignity.
At the time of the arrest, Mykola Azarov’s pension amounted to 17,250 UAH per month. The size of his pension was regulated by the law on the status of a Member of Parliament. On his two seized bank accounts, there were 199,500 UAH and 2.37 million UAH.
The trials lasted five years, until March 2021. Azarov went through five court instances: the Podilskyi District Court of Kyiv, Kyiv Appellate Administrative Court, Supreme Court, District Administrative Court of Kyiv, and Sixth Appellate Administrative Court. Only the Podilskyi District Court obliged the Pension Fund to restore pension payments to Azarov. The remaining courts demanded the Pension Fund consider the statements of the ex-prime minister’s representative for the resumption of pension payments. It is currently unknown whether the Pension Fund of Ukraine restored pension payments to the former head of government Mykola Azarov.
11 June 2025 г., 17:53
