Ukraine imposes moratorium on ‘Yanukovych’s debt’ repayment – Yatsenyuk
The payment is halted “until we make restructuring proposals or a relevant court decision is made”, added the Prime Minister. “We are prepared for court action from the Russian side”, Yatsenyuk said. Putin stated Russian Federation was able to work to enhance ties with the US, saying his talks with Secretary of State John Kerry this current week show in that Washington is able to “move toward resolved the issues in that can only be resolved through joint efforts”.
Moscow however maintains that the loan can not be considered private debt and has refused such conditions, instead offering to spread out the payment over three years and asking the International Monetary Fund to pitch in.
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.
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday went further than ever before in discussing Russia’s role in Ukraine’s separatist insurgency, with a comment on the deployment of operatives that North Atlantic Treaty Organisation said was an acknowledgment of the Kremlin’s military involvement in the conflict.
The moratorium also applies to about $507m owed to Russian banks by two state-run companies, according to Yatsenyuk.
Putin also said Thursday Russia was not planning to impose sanctions against Ukraine after Moscow suspended its free trade agreement with Kyiv.
That effectively means that Ukraine is defaulting on the debt. Kyiv has a 10-day grace period to pay debt to Moscow after the late December deadline.
“Given this, as well as the IMF’s concerns voiced today about parliament’s rejection of the new tax code and 2016 budget, there seems to be a growing risk that the country’s bailout could be put on hold”.
Moscow approved the loan to Ukraine in late 2013, shortly before the country’s pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted, and before the annexation of Crimea and the armed conflict in the east.