Ukraine ‘cannot pay off debt to Russia’
“The December 2015 Eurobonds constitute debt obligations which Ukraine can not pay in accordance with their initial terms”, the ministry said in a statement.
Relations between Moscow and Kyiv plummeted after the ouster of a Kremlin-backed president in early 2014, a year that also saw Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the start of fighting between government troops and pro-Russia rebels in east Ukraine. That move could jeopardize crucial loans that Ukraine has been receiving from a $17.5 billion bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund.
“This is absolutely incorrect“, Peskov said after a journalist asked him if it was possible to say that Russian military specialists were present in southeast Ukraine at some point of the conflict there.
Yatsenyuk announced the payment freeze at a government meeting in Kyiv, contending the step was needed after Russian Federation refused to join the restructuring.
“We have stated again and again that Russian Federation is present with military personnel in eastern Ukraine and that is based on our own intelligence sources”, Stoltenberg said as he met Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at North Atlantic Treaty Organisation headquarters in Brussels.
Kyiv had reached a restructuring deal in August with its private creditors – including major banks and investment funds – who agreed to a 20 percent cut.
Yatseniuk also said Ukraine would cancel payments on $507 million of Ukrainian commercial debt held by Russian banks. “From today all payments are suspended till our [government – Ed.] or a court makes a decision”, Yatsenyuk said.
Since the start of hostilities in Ukraine past year, Russian Federation has been at odds with the US and its allies who’ve said that it’s aided separatists in the country’s easternmost regions with soldiers and weapons, claims that Putin has consistently denied.
The officials also declared that the country remained committed “to negotiating in good faith” with Russian Federation.
The $3 billion loan was issued by Moscow to shore up the government of then-President Viktor Yanukovych in late 2013, months before he fled office. That effectively means that Ukraine is close to defaulting on the bond.
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