Legal issue: whether such pensioners have a right to remit the pensions from Sberbank (through which their pensions are paid) to their accounts in other banks without paying for this.

Ratio decidendi: the right of the federal legislator to choose one bank – namely, Sberbank, due to its having the largest network of branch offices – as Government’s agent for making payments to the categories of pensioners indicated above is within the constitutional powers of the legislator and purports to ensure efficiency in realization of their right to pension; at the same time, remittance of amounts of pensions via its branches to the accounts in other banks by the choice of the pensioner himself and without charging him for the expenses of Sberbank incurred by such remittance is not precluded. Thus interpreted, the contested rule does not contradict the Constitution.