According to the Russian Ministry of Finance, investors did not receive payments from Russia on their international debt “due to the activities of third parties, rather than for lack of payment.”
Such events are not referred to be default events in the issuance documentation.
The Russian Finance Ministry denies that there has been a default on foreign debt.
On May 20, the Ministry issued two payments totaling $71.25 million and €26.5 million.
The “funds in advance in full” were received by international settlement and clearing systems.
Nevertheless, the ministry claimed that despite “having the legal and financial authority to transmit the monies to the end recipients, they have not completed the appropriate measures for this purpose.”
“Please be aware that a default event is defined as the debtor’s failure to pay in the issuance documentation for these issues.
However, the payment was made ahead of time, on May 20, 2022, according to a statement from the ministry.
“According to the Finance Ministry, the Russian Federation has not objected to repaying its debts to all investor categories.
The Russian Federation provided investors with a new settlement method in accordance with the decree signed by the Russian Federation’s president.
The Finance Ministry stated, “to this end, in the absence of a technological possibility for processing payments in foreign currencies.”
On June 22, Putin issued a decree authorizing short-term payments of Russia’s foreign debt in rubles.