REUTERS
Pursuant to the current legislation and debt liabilities assumed, Ukraine announced a moratorium on any payments of the Russian debt, including payment of $3 billion borrowed under Viktor Yanukovych's presidency and which reaches maturity in December 2015, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said during an extraordinary meeting of the government.
"The Ukrainian government has imposed a moratorium on payments of the so-called "Russian debt." Once again I would like to remind that Ukraine [in November 2015] successfully completed a debt operation negotiated with a representative committee of bondholders. Due to the fact that Russia refused, despite our numerous efforts to sign a restructuring agreement, to accept our offer, the Cabinet is introducing a moratorium to suspend payments of the December 2015 eurobonds to the tune of $3.075 billion. This moratorium also encompasses Ukraine’s sovereign-guaranteed loans for Ukravtodor and Yuzhnoye owed to the Russian banks," Yatsenyuk said.
Total debt subject to the moratorium exceeds $3.58 billion.
The Prime Minister stressed that any payments under the above-mentioned debts to Russia totaling $3.58 billion would be stopped from today "until the acceptance [by Russia] of Ukraine's restructuring offer or the issuance of the relevant court decision."
"Again, I emphasize that we are ready for litigation with Russia," Yatsenyuk said.
Read alsoIMF Executive Board decides on status of Ukraine's eurobond held by RussiaAs UNIAN reported earlier, on December 16, 2015 the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) decided that the claim arising from the $3 billion eurobond issued by Ukraine on December 24, 2013 and held by Russia's National Wealth Fund is an official claim.
The Ukrainian Finance Ministry issued a statement claiming that Ukraine was not able to repay a $3 billion debt owed to the Russian Federation in accordance with its initial terms without violating the financing targets established under the IMF Extended Fund Facility. At this, the ministry underlined that the terms of the new Ukrainian sovereign bonds issued on November 12, 2015 specifically provide that a payment default or other event of default under the December 2015 eurobonds would not constitute a cross-default under the new bonds.