Russian propaganda Telegram channels are spreading a quote from the alleged Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine Oksana Zholnovych, according to which the receipt of high special pensions by judges and prosecutors is due to their “legal literacy”. Zholnovych's quote allegedly sounds like this: “There are about 740 thousand special pensioners, whose payments can exceed 100-120 thousand UAH per month. These pensions are a long-standing tradition, they are used, in particular, by judges and prosecutors. I am not saying that they are scum. I am saying that they are legally literate and know how to use the law correctly”.

In fact, this is a fake. Oksana Zholnovych did not make such a statement, writes the VoxCheck project. This fake quote is only being spread by some social media users, while reliable Ukrainian media do not have this statement, although such justification of high pensions for prosecutors and judges by the minister would certainly cause a public outcry.

The propagandists add a photo of the minister to their messages, which was published on October 24, 2024 by Forbes along with a recent interview. The interview also does not contain a statement. Zholnovych mentioned the issue of special pensions, but in a different context. She said that some people can abuse special disability pensions and criticized the current system, noting that such special pensions should only be given to those who really need them.

It is impossible to verify the information that 740 thousand special pensioners receive payments above 100-120 thousand UAH per month. At the same time, according to the Pension Fund of Ukraine, as of October 2024, 1.3 million pensioners (12.7%) receive a pension above 10 thousand UAH. However, the department does not note how many pensioners are paid more than 100 thousand UAH.

Earlier we wrote about a fake, which was that Germany would allegedly pay pensions to refugees from Ukraine aged 57.5-60 years.