M. N. Shakov
As defined, the State is not only to provide for military persons, but also to support those who are discharged from military force formations for reasons of age or health. In the Russian Federation, the procedure and rules of social protection are established by the Law ‘On Pension Provision of
Persons Who Served in the Armed Forces, Internal Affairs Bodies, Penitentiary Facilities and
Bodies, and of Their Families’.
The Law establishes the legal norms and the mechanisms by which the state fulfils, regulates and guarantees the social protection, adaptation and rehabilitation of former military persons and their families. It grants pensions for long-service, disability and survival, pension bonuses to different categories, as well as fringe benefits, allowances and compensations to persons involved in accidents or exposed to radiation during nuclear tests.
The law applies to the citizens of the Russian Federation who were in regular military service or in contractual service in any of its forces, structures and bodies, as well as to their families. As a successor of the USSR, the Russian Federation has assumed the responsibility of provision for former military persons residing in CIS countries (under treaties, agreements), and in countries that are not members of the CIS with pensions, if the legislation of the these countries does not stipulate their right to pension..
The Law establishes that a pension shall be fully paid to military pensioners irrespective of whether they receive another wage or income. This allows civilians to lead an active working and sociopolitical life. At the same time, if the number of military pensions fails to prevent persons from living below the poverty level then the overwhelming majority of pensioners have to work.
The legislator understands that there are certain defects in the pension provision of military persons and seeks to eliminate them successively. In the past six years, amendments have been made to the Law in question every year (sometimes twice yearly) to further improve the social security and service of former military persons by increasing the level of social protection, prosperity, employment and health. The amendment of January 2002 was associated with bringing the Law in harmony with the Federal Law ‘On Government Pensions in the Russian Federation’.

Nevertheless, the collision is that the nominal pension provision for military persons shall be regulated by an unconstitutional act (a law of the Russian Federation) approved before adopting the existing Constitution that provides federal constitutional laws and federal laws. It is thought that it is high time to resolve this collision.