Russia says Ukraine defaulted on $3 bln Eurobond
MOSCOW Jan 1 Russia will file a lawsuit against
Ukraine after Kyiv failed to repay a $3 billion Eurobond and $75
million of interest by Dec. 31, the Russian finance ministry
said late on Thursday.
The decision was expected as Russia has repeatedly said it
would regard non-payment as a default and file a lawsuit. The
Eurobond was issued by the government of former President Viktor
Yanukovich in late 2013 and bought by Russia in its entirety.
“A corresponding lawsuit will be filed in an English court
in compliance with the established procedures,” the ministry
said on its website.
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk had repeatedly
said that Ukraine would not repay the Eurobond at maturity on
Dec. 20 and that Kyiv was ready to fight the issue in court.
A grace period for repayment expired on Thursday.
The bond was issued just two months before Yanukovich fled
in the face of bloody street protests triggered by his seeking
to halt Ukraine’s swing towards European integration in favour
of closer economic ties with Russia.
Ukraine, which has separately reached an agreement with
private creditors to restructure its sovereign and
sovereign-guaranteed debt, insists the Eurobond is commercial
debt and that it cannot offer Russia a better deal than other
creditors.
Russia says it is official, country-to-country, lending and
outside the scope of Kyiv’s agreement with private creditors.
After Yanukovich fled, Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea in
March 2014 and has been accused by Ukraine and the West of
backing a rebellion by separatists in eastern Ukraine.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Additional reporting by
Natalia Zinets in Kyiv; Editing by Jason Bush and Catherine
Evans)