The long-term head of the Union of Russia and Belarus and an official of former president Boris Yeltsin's administration, Pavel Borodin, will see his monthly retirement pension increased by 13,000 rubles ($394), according to a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin.
It was not immediately clear what pension he has been receiving up to now. The average pension payment in Moscow is 10,000 rubles per month.
Borodin, who served as the head of the alliance from 2000 to 2011, will get the increased benefit "for his special merits for the Russian Federation and a great contribution to developing and strengthening the of the relations between Russian and Belarus," according to the decree published on the government's official website for legal information Thursday.
The order goes into effect on August 1.
Before he chaired the Union of Russia and Belarus, Borodin, 66, served as head of the president's Property Management Department between 1993 and 2000. The following year after resignation from the presidential administration, he was held by the New York police at the request of Swiss authorities.
He was suspected of receiving $30 million from Swiss construction firms Mabetex and Mercata Trading and Engineering in exchange for a contract to carry out restoration works in the Kremlin, the White House and the buildings of the State Duma and and the Federation Council, Vedomosti reported. The case was closed in 2002, with Borodin being fined for 300,000 Swiss francs.
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