Ukraine to Honor Russian Eurobond Payments Amid Crimea Dispute
Photographer: Bulent Doruk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
A Russian flag waves over the parliament building in Simferopol, Crimea, on March 19, 2014.
A Russian flag waves over the parliament building in Simferopol, Crimea, on March 19, 2014. Close
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A Russian flag waves over the parliament building in Simferopol, Crimea, on March 19, 2014.
Ukraine will meet payments on the $3 billion of Eurobonds it sold to Russia three months before President Vladimir Putins military incursion into the Crimean peninsula, a Finance Ministry official in Kiev said.
Ukraine will pay its debts as it has been doing, Denis Khristoforov, an official at the sovereign-debt department of Ukraines Finance Ministry, said by phone today, when asked about the bonds issued to Russia. These are Eurobonds even if there is only one debt holder. If we do not pay them, we would de-facto be in default. Ukraine doesnt want that.
Putin said yesterday he will annex Ukraines Crimean peninsula in the Black Sea after the region voted in a disputed referendum to join Russia, ratcheting up tensions in a stand-off with the West. Ukraine, which faces $10 billion in foreign-debt payments this year, is in talks about aid with the International Monetary Fund, the U.S. and the European Union.
Russia bought two-year dollar-denominated notes from Ukraine in December as the initial step in what was to be a $15 billion bailout. Russia halted the aid program after Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, a Putin ally, was ousted last month amid the biggest protests since the country gained independence from its former Soviet master in 1991.
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Ukraine to Honor Russian Eurobond Payments Amid Crimea Dispute