The Head of Government told that in the past week people had appealed to him over the question of what verification of social payments means. He explained what the Government’s goal is.

“In general, throughout the year the State makes social payments worth UAH 365 billion. These include welfare benefit payments and social assistance for the citizens of the country. Just think over this figure, it exceeds threefold the entire budget of the national security and defence”, Arseniy Yatsenyuk accentuated.

“What is our overall goal? Our goal is to ensure that such payments are obtained only by those citizens who deserve it and who are entitled to receive such assistance under law. Those who abuse the law, those who are trying, through cheating, to pump every last Kopeck out of the pockets of pensioners, the pockets of the disabled and of the displaced families must be deprived of such benefits”, the Prime Minister emphasized.

The Head of Government reminded: “In recent months we have cut off payments to 150 thousand so-called displaced persons, not those who in need, but ‘so-called’. We found out that there was a sophisticated scheme created: fraudsters would obtain the documents of citizens who reside in the occupied territory of Ukraine, go to the social protection authorities and on the plea of the fact that such families are allegedly registered as temporarily displaced, receive hundreds of millions of hryvna from the state budget”.

“I will not allow swindlers to plunder funds from the budget and to rob Ukrainian citizens, depriving them of the opportunity to have their social standards and pensions improved because these funds are now pumped out of the budget under such schemes”, Arseniy Yatsenyuk urged.  

He highlighted, that “each person who should, under the law, receive any kind of social assistance or extra payment will continue to get it.  While those who, through fraudulent schemes, try to steal money from the state budget and to deprive honest citizens of then entitled payments, will pay the penalty and such payments will be terminated”.

The PM called on the citizens not to worry and not to believe rumours: “These rumours about subsidies are nothing more than political gamesmanship at your expense. The system is a mechanism to provide real assistance to the citizens of the country. We have assigned the subsidies in the budget and every third Ukrainian family receives them”.

“I also declare that every citizen of the country that needs social assistance will definitely get it. Whilst everyone who steals from the budget through fraudulent activities or tries to deprive honest citizens of the opportunity to obtain such funds, will be punished, and payments to them will be terminated”, Arseniy Yatenyuk summed up.