Photo from UNIAN
Ukraine has to respond to Russia's claim on debt before March 4, after that the court is going to appoint a hearing, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergey Storchak told journalists on Thursday, according to Russian news agency TASS.
"March 4 – is the first key date, when the Ukrainians need to respond to our claim. And then the court will have to appoint a hearing," he said, TASS reported.
Explaining the procedure, Storchak said, "We have presented a claim, they need to present some counter arguments. This is the usual procedure."
He noted that the total sum of the claim amounts to $3 billion, plus $75 million of interest.
Storchak noted that discussing measures of financial support for Belarus is in the agenda of Thursday's visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Minsk, but declined to talk about further details of possible aid.
On February 17, the Russian Finance Ministry filed a lawsuit against Ukraine to London's High Court of Justice for non-payment of the $3 billion loan.
Ukraine was to pay the debt on December 21, 2015. However, on December 18, 2015, the Ukrainian government imposed a moratorium on payment of $3 billion debt to the Russian Federation because of Russia's refusal to sign a restructuring agreement on an equal basis with private creditors, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said.