Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) applauded the recent decision by the Ukrainian Constitutional Court to strike down a Ukrainian law which barred payment of pensions to Ukrainian citizens who immigrated to other nations. Widely reported in the Ukrainian media, the Court has ruled unconstitutional the withholding of those pension payments.

“I am delighted to learn of this humane and forward-looking decision by the Ukrainian courts on the important issue of pension payments,” said Nadler. “If pensions are finally paid to the thousands of workers who have been unfairly denied them, then justice will truly be served, and it will only come at a minor cost to the Ukrainian government. Émigrés from Ukraine and other FSU nations have waited too long to receive the pensions that they deserve.”

The Court’s decision comes on the heels of several years of effort by Nadler and others to facilitate full payment of pensions owed to former Soviet Union (FSU) immigrants in the U.S., particularly those from Ukraine, the single largest source of FSU immigrants in the nation. In June of this year, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved Nadler’s amendment to the Foreign Relations Authorization Act calling on the United States to continue to work with FSU governments to resolve the issue of unpaid pensions. There are likely tens of thousands of FSU immigrants in this country who have yet to receive pensions after decades of labor for Soviet and post-Soviet industries.