Original Russian-language federal law, 31 pages, setting out how Russian pensions and social payments are established for residents of the four occupied regions during the transition period, including how periods of work and residence under Ukrainian and DPR/LPR jurisdiction are counted.
Law No. 17-FZ integrates the population of the occupied territories into the Russian pension and social-security system on Russian terms. Article 1 defines its scope by reference to citizens of the Russian Federation permanently resident in the four regions on the date of their claimed admission, so that the right to a Russian pension, and to the additional payments the law provides, runs through Russian citizenship. Subsequent articles set the rules for recognising Ukrainian and DPR/LPR work records and pension entitlements, the documents that may be used to prove them, and the transitional arrangements for those already receiving payments from the occupation authorities. For elderly residents, whose income depends on the pension, the law makes the Russian passport the practical condition of survival, which is why TOT Insights research on passportisation describes coercion in the occupied territories as administrative before it is physical. It is cited alongside Law No. 5-FKZ (DOC-154) and the "ownerless" housing provisions (DOC-160).
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Key provisions
Scope (art. 1). The law applies to citizens of the Russian Federation who were permanently resident in the DPR, LPR, Zaporizhzhia Oblast or Kherson Oblast on 30 September 2022, and sets the specifics of their pension and additional social provision under Russian law.
Recognition of records. Periods of work and other activity on the territory of Ukraine and of the DPR and LPR before the date of admission are counted towards Russian insurance and length-of-service pensions on the conditions the law sets; entitlements may be proved by documents issued by Ukrainian or DPR/LPR bodies, or by commission where documents are lost.
Transition. Persons receiving pensions from the occupation authorities are transferred to the Russian Social Fund; the law guarantees that the new pension is not lower than the sum previously paid, and adds regional supplements.
Conditions. Payment requires Russian citizenship and registration of residence in the territory under Russian rules, and ceases on departure outside the conditions the law allows.
Analytical note
The law is the fiscal counterpart of passportisation. It makes the acceptance of Russian citizenship the route to the only pension available, converts Ukrainian work records into Russian entitlements, and thereby produces the administrative record that the occupying power later cites as evidence that the population is Russian.