Ukraine says not received direct information on Russia’s debt offer
“I think it will have a neutral [impact on the rating – TASS]. There are more important factors”, he said.
He noted that the money from the Russian National Wealth Fund were used for buying Eurobonds from Ukraine, thus, the restructuring will not affect the borrowing program in Russia next year.
Part of Russia’s argument for full repayment was that, as a sovereign creditor and IMF member, it had the authority to halt the fund’s lending to Ukraine.
“Russia has created a bargaining chip – we’ll be nice to you in the Middle East if you’ll be nice to us in Ukraine”, said Mark Galeotti, a professor in global affairs at NY University with a specialty in Russian security affairs.
On the sidelines of this week’s G20 summit in Turkey, Putin put forth an offer to let Kyiv pay off its debt in three annual $1 billion tranches starting next year. He said Russian Federation has asked for guarantees for the repayment from either the United States or the European Union. “But I am determined to continue to work with my Russian counterparts, because of the importance that I think we each can bring to this issue, in terms of our insights, our info, our data and sharing”.
“The proposal was received with interest”, Putin said. “We agreed with our partners to substantively discuss the details in the near future proposals”, Putin said. 17 November 2015Russian President Vladimir Putin’s surprise offer to restructure $3 billion worth of Ukrainian debt may be just smart business sense.
Russia Makes Proposal on Ukraine Debt, Easing Standoff –Update