Delays in pensions increase resignation risk for head of Ingushetia

Makhmud-Ali Kalimatov, the head of Ingushetia, is at risk of resignation in the first half of 2023, according to a report by the Agency for Political and Economic Communications (APEC). Among the factors that have affected his rating are the problems with the payment of pensions.

On January 4, Zubeir Evloev, the head of the republic's branch of the Pension Fund of Russia (PFR), stated that the delay in paying pensions had to do with incorrect data in applicants' electronic files.

According to experts of the APEC, the social sphere of the region is facing general problems. Also in 2022, Ingushetia had a complicated crime situation; the murder in September in Nazran of Musa Aushev, the head of a construction company, was mentioned as a resonant fact. Sources linked the crime with a land conflict.

Should there be "bursts of protest activity or resonant anti-corruption processes," the likelihood of Kalimatov's resignation may grow further.

On October 21, 2022, the head of Ingushetia reported that pensioners had complained about mass delays of pensions. It turned out that the delays had to do with the violations of the pension legislation revealed during the audits conducted at the republic's PFR branch. By the end of the same month, authorities reported on the payment of all the delayed pensions.

In Ingushetia, many pensioners have no "financial cushion"; and for them a two-week delay in payment thereof has become a big problem. The families, for whom pensions are the only income, had to borrow money or rely on their neighbours help, residents of the republic told the "Caucasian Knot".