New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. today issued the following statement concerning the announcement about a meeting with Russian officials to discuss the creation of a bilateral pension agreement between the two nations: 

“I am heartened to learn that the Social Security Administration and the U.S. State Department are arranging a meeting with Russian officials to discuss the payment of pensions earned by residents of former soviet republics. As I mentioned in letters to the Russian and Ukrainian Ambassadors and the Russian Counsel in New York City, the affected individuals are not asking for charity. They are merely asking for the money that they have earned with their own labor. Hopefully, this meeting will begin the process of pension restoration to those who have worked most of their lives on behalf of the former Soviet Union. I thank Congressman Jerrold Nadler for his diligent efforts and leadership on this issue. Congressman Nadler and Yakov Goodman, President of Association of New Immigrants for the State of Israel and Social Justice, Inc., have fought hard to get these hardworking citizens all that they are due.”

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