MOSCOW. Oct 3 (Interfax-AVN) - The State Duma has ratified a Russian-Latvian treaty on cooperation in social security, a measure intended to safeguard the interests of ethnic Russians abroad.
The document envisions welfare payments, including temporary disability benefits, maternity benefits, pensions, unemployment benefits, benefits for families with children, payments of funeral expenses, and financial support for people injured at their workplace and persons with job-related diseases.
An "extra 103 million rubles will be allocated from the Russian budget for these purposes - for Russian citizens living in Latvia," State Duma First Deputy Speaker Oleg Morozov told journalists earlier.
"These norms will apply like for like to citizens of Latvia living in Russia," he said.
This treaty has been ratified by Latvia's parliament, Tatiana Voronova, a member of the State Duma's international affairs committee, said, presenting this document on Thursday.
The document, which was signed in Riga in December 2007, says that benefits and pensions will be granted based on a person's work record received both in Russia and Latvia, excluding situations where its time periods overlap. Pensions for the period before January 1, 1991 are paid by a country where a person lives when he applies for a pension. The size of pensions for the period after January 1, 1991 is calculated based on national legislation.