Kremlin plans to shift Russians' pension savings into state program – intelligence
That is according to Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service, Ukrinform reports.
At stake are around 3 trillion rubles held in the accounts of 37 million Russians who have not yet chosen a private pension fund to manage their savings.
The plan is explained in pragmatic terms: the funds will be directed to non-state pension funds (NPFs) for investment in infrastructure and "state projects," while the economy will receive so-called "long money." The main beneficiary could be the NPF "Blagosostoyanie," whose shareholders include Russian Railways, Gazprombank, and VEB – entities under direct state control.
According to the Foreign Intelligence Service, in 2014 – immediately after the occupation of Crimea and the imposition of sanctions – the Russian government "froze" the funded portion of pensions. At that time, 6% out of the 22% pension contributions that were supposed to go into individual accounts were redirected to pay current retirees, effectively plugging a gap in the pension fund. The freeze was declared temporary but has now lasted for more than ten years.
The long-term savings program was launched in 2024 as a supposedly voluntary alternative aimed at attracting household funds to the stock market, which had been depleted following the withdrawal of foreign investors after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The plan failed: over two years, the program has attracted only 717 billion rubles from 10 million participants.
Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin personally urged the government to "more actively encourage" participation in the long-term savings program, but voluntary enrollment has not delivered the desired results.
The specific mechanism for transferring the funds has not yet been determined, but the logic of the initiative is clear: when the state needs "long money" to finance projects under sanctions and budget pressure from the war, it traditionally finds it in the pockets of future pensioners, the intelligence service said.
