According to the Kremlin spokesman, Russia made the necessary payment in May.
It’s “not our concern,” he stressed, because the money wasn’t delivered to the intended beneficiaries.
Bloomberg reports that Russia faced its first foreign currency sovereign debt default since 1918.
On May 26, the grace period for paying obligations on government bonds totaling nearly $100 million came to an end.
The default, however, is merely symbolic and has little practical significance for Russians, according to Bloomberg’s report.
The inability to pay off the debt is unrelated to the issue. Due to the effects of the sanctions, it happened for technical reasons.
The license, under which Russia settled its public debt in US dollars, was canceled by the US in late May.
Anti-Russian sanctions were lifted in relation to payments made to service a portion of the nation’s sovereign debt.
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, signed a law on June 22 providing for the payment of the nation’s external public debt in rubles.
Two coupon payments have been made by the Russian Ministry of Finance in compliance with the new settlement process.
Finance Minister Anton Siluanov emphasized that this action was related to international counterparties’ refusal to carry out dollar payments.