MOSCOW, November 22 - RAPSI. President Vladimir Putin has charged the government with studying the issue of establishing a special fund for paying alimony to families in need while the debtor is being searched for, according to Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko, who discussed the issue with the president.

On Thursday, Matviyenko took part in a hearing of the Coordination Council for Implementing the National Children's Strategy for 2012-2017.

She said the establishment of such a fund will require a special law and financing.

Meanwhile, State Duma Vice Speaker Lyudmila Shvetsova said the debtor will have to pay the money allocated from the fund as soon as the one is found.

She added that the issue of establishing the fund is a priority, and it has already been discussed with the Labor Ministry and included in the government working plan.

The vice speaker stressed that there were 550,000 divorces in 2011, 60 percent of which were concluded via a court ruling. This means there is at least one child in each of these families, she said.

Pursuant to official data, about 2.1 million families do not receive alimony in Russia.