Russia says Ukraine defaulted on $3 bln Eurobond
“Thus, Ukraine is in a state of default now”, the ministry said in a statement.
In November 2013, Ukraine’s then pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych rejected the association agreement, triggering pro-European protests that led to his downfall and eventually to the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine, which has left more than 9,000 people dead.
The ministry said it is filing a lawsuit against Ukraine with a British court.
Ukraine, which marks Christmas on 7 January in accordance with Orthodox Christian tradition, has begun a national debate about whether it should also celebrate on 25 December, a step that would bring it into line with western Europe.
Moscow, however, has refused such conditions, saying that the loan is not private but official country-to-country lending and outside the scope of Kyiv’s agreement with private creditors.
However, the ministry statement noted that the legal action did not “preclude” talks to negotiate the terms of repayment.
The dispute has been hampering the International Monetary Fund’s $17.5-billion rescue plan for Ukraine, which restricts Kyiv’s ability to restructure billions of dollars in debt.
The trade restrictions will be introduced only if Moscow imposes a trade embargo against Kyiv, Ukraine’s Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister Nataliya Mykolska said.
The Russian Finance Ministry, however, stressed that Moscow will still be willing to work with Kyiv to solve the problem, even after the lawsuit is filed.
Russia, furious at seeing its Soviet-era satellite turn to the West, has always been critical of the trade deal.
(Vatican Radio) Local authorities say Ukraine has again cut off a major source of electrical power to Crimea, a month after saboteurs first plunged the peninsula annexed by Russian Federation into darkness.
In his New Year address to the nation, Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko said the European Union deal would help “compensate in a few years for the enormous losses that Russian Federation has caused Ukraine”.
However, sporadic outbreaks of violence continue and a Ukrainian soldier and two civilians were killed in fighting on December 27 despite the truce.
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