Apparent pressure being put on Chernobyl Rescue Workers in Kharkiv

From early morning on Tuesday former Chernobyl Rescue Workers in Kharkiv approached the regional department of the Pension Fund. They had learned that the pension files of people who have won court suits defending their rights under the law on the status of people who suffered as a result of the Chernobyl Disaster have been removed from the regional pension funds and sent to the regional department.

Ludmila Klochko, Head of the Kharkiv Human Rights Group Public Advice Centre says that there are grounds for assuming that their files will be sent to Kyiv to prepare appeals.

Meanwhile the head of one of the organizations of Chernobyl Rescue Workers, Vladimir Proskurin, had a visitation from people in plain clothes who said that they were from the military registration office. Give a far-fetched pretext they began gathering information about who is living in the flat. Ms Klochko believes that this may indicate that the authorities are trying to exercise unlawful pressure on people asserting their right to legally fixed benefits.