Anastasia Volochkova filed a lawsuit against the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, but was rejected with the statement that “the case is outside the jurisdiction of this court.”
Photo: Daniil OPARIN. Go to Photobank KP
Fans often discuss the size of stars’ pensions. I wonder how much celebrities get paid. We are all different. It happens that artists even sue for their pensions. We tell stories of artists’ retirements.
PENSION COURTS
Ballerina Anastasia Volochkova, 48, commented on her fight for a pension: “As for my application to the court for a pension that should have been granted to me by law 10 years ago. Ballet soloists are required to have 15 years of experience for retirement. I still dance. And my experience is 30 years! But then the Bolshoi Theatre lost my experience by giving me a falsified work book, although my experience according to the documents is valid, and to this day I am listed as an outstanding stage master. Then in Krasnodar, years of my performances at the Yuri Grigorovich Theatre were lost, as if I were dancing on the moon. I did not want to end up in litigation. But this is another matter of principle.”
Anastasia Volochkova filed a lawsuit against the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, but was returned with the phrase “the case is outside the jurisdiction of this court.” Now the ballerina’s lawyer is going to file a lawsuit in another district court. Volochkova is asking for a preferential pension. Ballet dancers who perform solo parts have the right to receive an old-age insurance pension early if they have at least 15 years of experience. Anastasia will have to prove that she has the required experience. It is important that the ballerina did not dance it in private commercial projects. And in ballet theaters or opera and ballet theaters. Volochkova was six months away from turning 15 years old – she had previously failed to win a lawsuit against the Bolshoi Theater for her work experience. Now she will prove to the Pension Fund that she is entitled to early allocation of an old-age insurance pension. It seems that the star has found the experience she lacked in one of the theaters.
47-year-old singer Inna Malikova refused early retirement two years ago. When Malikova announced that she would file a claim to the Pension Fund for a pension, a scandal erupted on social networks: people bombarded the singer with angry messages about how shameful it should be for her to be at that age and with that profession to apply for payments from the state. Inna Malikova stated that she was withdrawing her claim against the Pension Fund and would apply for retirement on a general basis. Malikova explained why she decided to file a lawsuit: “When the lawyers of the organization in which I have been officially registered for more than 25 years suggested that I consider drawing up documents for early retirement, as an experienced creative worker, I did not attach any importance to this fact. For me, this situation was the norm, since my mother, a ballet dancer, has been receiving a pension since she was 37.” Inna Malikova is an Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, she directs and sings in the group “New Gems” that she created. Inna may have worked from a young age in the Gems ensemble, created by her father. And the founder of the group was Mosconcert. Inna Malikova was entitled to early retirement because she belonged to the following category of “beneficiary” artists. The right to early allocation of an old-age insurance pension with at least 20 years of creative work experience is available to: vocalists (soloists) of opera and ballet theaters, musical and musical theater theaters, concert organizations, professional art groups, radio and television broadcasts. Many of our artists sing and dance for the benefit of their own individual entrepreneurs and LLCs. Therefore, they are not entitled to early retirement. It was in Soviet times that every pop artist was assigned to a philharmonic society or other cultural institution. Now there are much fewer artists working in concert organizations. But there are still enough of them in cinemas. Creative “beneficiaries” also include some circus workers, stuntmen, puppeteers in puppet theatres, artists in children’s theatres, theatres for young spectators, theatres of facial expressions and gestures, soloists of professional choirs and some others.
Irina Ponarovskaya, 71, spoke of her claim as follows: “I filed a claim for my pension, and for a minute it is 240 thousand for 10 years of underpayment. I received the minimum wage after more than forty years of working on the stage. And after receiving the title of Honorary (2019), I was harassed for a whole year and not given the required bonus.” The artist, through the court, included in her total work experience the period of work at the Krasnodar Philharmonic (1982 – 1983) and her insurance pension was recalculated. In those years, Ponarovskaya sang in Kuban with her own ensemble together with her husband Weiland Rod and was seconded to the Philharmonic; the experience continued. Ponarovskaya recalculated the period for receiving a pension from 55 to 67 years: there was an underpayment of about 20 thousand rubles per year. Now Ponarovskaya’s pension is 65 thousand rubles.
Irina Ponarovskaya
STAR PENSION SIZE
Moscow pensioners with the title of People’s or Honored Artist of the Russian Federation (or the USSR or the RSFSR) receive a monthly compensation regardless of whether they continue to work or not. Since 2018, a substantial bonus has been paid, which is indexed. And in 2024, popular and honored Muscovites will receive an additional 39.7 thousand rubles to their pensions every month. By the way, since 2023, pensioners with the title of People’s Artist of the Russian Federation (or the USSR or the RSFSR), who have lived in St. Petersburg for at least 10 years, also began to receive a substantial additional payment to their pension for the title – 30 thousand rubles per month.
Honored Artist Elena Proklova told us how happy she was with the bonus: “I am lucky to live in Moscow. After all, despite my 50 years of profession, I received the minimum wage – an old-age pension.” Sometimes artists in interviews are embarrassed by the fact that they receive substantial pensions, unlike their fans, and mention the amounts without bonuses. After all, with all the bonuses, the amounts are really decent: they pay more for age (after 70 and 80 years), for state awards, for orders and other awards. But part of the subsidies (for orders, state awards, etc.), called additional material support, is granted only to retired artists who do not work.
People’s Artist Alexander Pashutin, 81, did not hesitate to indicate the amount of his pension with all allowances (title, awards): it is almost 90 thousand rubles a month. And People’s Artist Natalya Gvozdikova, 76, was unexpectedly dissatisfied: although she receives almost 70 thousand rubles. Natalya Fedorovna was awarded the USSR State Prize in 1978 (for her role in the film “Born of the Revolution”), but she does not receive any additional payments for this merit, as she works: “With this bonus, it would be another 22 thousand rubles.”
At the same time, there are fellow villagers and honest people who do not complain about the “minimum wage”. Moscow artists without a title receive at least 24.5 thousand rubles with a regional bonus. And the “minimum wage” for workers is 16.9 thousand rubles. 82-year-old actress Valentina Titova (“Shield and Sword”, “Days of the Turbines” and several dozen others) told us why she did not receive the title: “I was nominated for the title twice when I worked at the Film Actors’ Theatre. I don’t know who or how voted for my candidacy at the Mosfilm film studio or at the Film Actor’s Theatre, where I worked, but that’s how I received the title. This is a typical story of a creative team. I never complained. I live very decently even on little money. There is no need to cry, we have to work harder.” More often, the title was awarded to artists with significant experience in the theatre.
People’s Artist of St. Petersburg Alisa Freindlikh, 89, receives three regional payments, so her pension exceeds 80 thousand rubles. Alisa Brunovna says: “I am a survivor of the siege, an honorary citizen, that’s why I have a large pension.”
A working pensioner, 64-year-old TV presenter Dmitry Dibrov, is also happy with his pension of just over 34 thousand rubles: “I have a work record without a single break in my service.” Nikolai Drozdov, 87, receives about 40,000 rubles a month and does not complain: he works part-time, despite his health problems. A friend of the Drozdov family told the KP.RU website: “Nikolai Nikolaevich has had continuous experience since 1967. He is a professor and has worked at the Department of Geography at Moscow State University for more than 56 years. The pension is normal, Moscow. There is an additional charge. Nikolai Nikolaevich, as an honorary citizen of the Ryazan region, receives an annual lifetime payment to his pension. About 110,000 rubles a year.”
Pension amount from 16.9 thousand rubles to 35 thousand rubles – Zhanna Aguzarova, Natalya Arinbasarova, Natalya Gulkina, Dmitry Dibrov, Nikolai Drozdov, Regina Dubovitskaya, Leon Izmailov, Yuri Loza, Milyavskaya Lolita, Mikhail Muromov, Ekaterina Semenova, Elena Hanga and other theater, movie and pop stars.
Pension size from 56 thousand rubles to 70 thousand rubles: Vera Alentova, Bari Alibasov, Irina Alferova, Yuri Antonov, Liya Akhedzhakova, Nadezhda Babkina, Valery Barinov, Mikhail Boyarsky, Natalya Varley, Tatyana Vasilyeva, Emmanuil Vitorgan, Angelina Vovk, Larisa Guzeeva, Tatyana Dogileva, Larisa Dolina, Alexander Domogarov, Alexandra Zakharova, Nadezhda Kadysheva, Vladimir Kuzmin, Tatyana Kravchenko, Yuri Kuklachev, Lev Leshchenko, Valery Leontiev, Vyacheslav Malezhik, Irina Muravyova, Igor Nikolaev, Yuri Nikolaev, Klara Novikova, Nikolai Rastorguev, Irina Rozanova, Svetlana Svetlichnaya, Alena Sviridova, Viktor Sukhorukov, Yuri Stoyanov, Gennady Khazanov, Ekaterina Shavrina, Lidiya Fedoseeva-Shukshina, Leonid Yakubovich and other popular and honored artists.
The pension amount is 70-80 thousand rubles: Yuri Bashmet, Tatyana Doronina, Stanislav Lyubshin, Vladimir Spivakov, Alexandra Pakhmutova, David Tukhmanov, Alisa Freindlikh and other respected artists.
