Russia pays bondholders in dollars from its foreign exchange reserves – To avoid bankruptcy?

LAST UPDATE: 19.21

Russia said on Friday it had made payments in two of its foreign bonds in US dollars, albeit with a delay of weeks due to international sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine, in a move that could lead it to avoid a bankruptcy that until recently seemed almost inevitable, points out the Bloomberg agency.

Moscow used dollars from its foreign exchange reserves to make the payments, so the US allowed the transaction to take place, said a spokesman for the US Treasury Department, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The use of these stocks has been a key objective of Western sanctions, which appear to be successful at this level.

The country had initially made the ruble payment, as its dollar resources “froze” in early April. after which bankruptcy could be formally declared.

On Friday, however, the Russian Finance Ministry said in a statement that it had sent dollars to Citibank’s London branch. This is $ 564.8 million for a Eurobond maturing in 2022 and $ 84.4 million for a bond maturing in 2042. The announcement of the Ministry does not provide details about the procedure followed.

If the money reaches the bondholders before the end of the grace period, Moscow will avoid its first state bankruptcy since the Bolshevik revolutionary government refused the debt of tsarist Russia more than a century ago.

Western sanctions have frozen Russia’s foreign exchange reserves and severely cut off the country from the international financial system, while assets of politicians, businessmen and businessmen linked to Vladimir Putin have been seized by Western authorities.

Russia has threatened to take legal action, saying the United States and its allies are trying to artificially bankrupt it. It has also turned hydrocarbons into weapons, cutting off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria this week.

Sberbank paid coupons for two bonds in rubles

Russian bank Sberbank announced on Friday that it had paid coupons for two eurobonds in rubles because US and British sanctions had prevented it from making payments on its original commitments, Reuters reported.

Sberbank said in a statement that it had made payments in rubles of two eurobonds, with one payment for a bond maturing in October 2022 totaling $ 2 billion and the other for a maturity bond in May 2023 amounting to $ 1 billion. .dollars.

Source: Capital

You may also like