Ukraine imposes moratorium on ‘Yanukovych’s debt’ repayment – Yatsenyuk
He said Ukraine’s move would not influence Russia’s intention of taking Ukraine to court once the 10-day grace period on the debt payment expired.
It followed the overthrow of a Moscow-allied president in Kyiv and Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in what grew to be the biggest spat between Moscow and the West since the Cold War.
Kyiv’s move to impose a ban on debt repayments came as a total surprise as on Thursday the country’s Finance Ministry said it was committed to a dialogue with Moscow over a possible credit relief deal.
After he fled, Russian Federation annexed Ukraine’s Crimea in March 2014 and threw its backing behind a rebellion by separatists in eastern Ukraine.
“Russia has refused, despite our repeated attempts to sign the agreement for restructuring, to accept our proposals”, Yatsenyuk explained.
Kyiv has sought to give a political dimension to the debt, hinting that Russian Federation bought Ukrainian bonds in December 2013 in an act of clandestine bribery of then President Viktor Yanukovych who was facing massive anti-government protests at the time.
Hours before Poroshenko’s comments, Putin told an annual news conference that Russian Federation had military personnel in eastern Ukraine but no regular troops.
Relations between the two sides became even more tense in October, when Russian Federation was the only one of a group of creditors not to approve Ukraine’s plans to restructure $18bn of sovereign Eurobonds.
Putin also said it was impossible to say whether the Russian officers, Yevgeny Yerofeyev and Alexander Alexandrov, would be exchanged for Ukrainian helicopter pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, or other Ukrainians imprisoned or facing trial in Russia.
“What he (Putin) said today, is basically the same as we have stated all along”, Stoltenberg said during a news conference.
This distinction would allow Kyiv to treat the transaction as a private debt.
Kyiv must also show that it is “pursuing appropriate policies” to continue receiving support under its $17.5 billion International Monetary Fund bailout programme.