Ukraine threatens to stop debt payments to Russian Federation
BELEK, Turkey Nov 16 President Vladimir Putin said on Monday Russian Federation had made a surprise offer to restructure Ukraine’s debt, telling Kyiv it would accept an annual debt repayment of $1 billion over three years if the West provided guarantees.
He said: “We are ready not to receive any money this year”. The dispute has been hampering the IMF’s $17.5-billion rescue plan for Ukraine, which restricts Kyiv’s ability to restructure billions of dollars in debt, including a few held by Moscow. “We await the outcome of those discussions”.
“Russia made an offer about the procedure for payment by Ukraine”.
The proposed restructuring of Ukrainian debt would have a neutral impact on the sovereign rating of Russian Federation, Deputy Finance Minister Maxim Oreshkin said Tuesday, TASS reported. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has repeatedly said that Russian Federation wouldn’t get preferential treatment.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Finance Ministry said it “hasn’t received any direct information and has no comment at this time”.
In August, a creditor group reached a $15 billion restructuring agreement with Kyiv that included a 20 percent principal writedown and a four-year maturity extension.
The IMF’s current policy forbids it loaning to countries that default on other government debt.