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Russia to challenge decision of English Court of Appeal on Ukraine’s debt

Russia bought Ukrainian Eurobonds worth $3 bln in December 2013

MOSCOW, September 14. /TASS/.Russia plans to appeal against the decision of the English Court of Appeal in the case of Ukraine’s debt on Eurobonds worth $3 bln before October 26, head of the department of public debt and state financial assets at the Finance Ministry Konstantin Vyshkovsky told reporters.

"We have already announced that we intend to appeal the decision of the Court of Appeal. The term for filing an appeal is approximately until October 26. We will do it in the near future," he said.

According to Vyshkovsky, if the Supreme Court of England satisfies the appeal of Russia, the decision of the High Court of London (which obliged Ukraine to repay the debt) will be final and there will be no more legal proceedings on this matter.

On Friday, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales upheld Ukraine’s petition of appeal to the verdict of the High Court in London ion case of Kiev’s $3 bln debt to Moscow.

The decision means that the High Court of London will now return to the case review within the classical litigation framework.

On Friday, First Deputy Prime Minister Anton Siluanov said that Russia will approach the Supreme Court of England with a statement regarding the new consideration of the case on Ukraine’s debt of $3 bln to Russia and expects the decision will be unbiased.

Debt of Eurobonds

Russia bought Ukrainian Eurobonds worth $3 bln in December 2013 at the expense of resources from the National Wealth Fund. Ukraine defaulted on Eurobonds in December 2015. Russia approached the High Court of London with a request to recover the debt from Ukraine in February 2016 after numerous attempts to settle the matter out of court.

In March 2017, the London court bound Ukraine to pay to Russian the par value of bonds worth $3 bln and $75 mln of coupon revenue and default interest.

On May 29, 2017, London’s High Court rejected all of the objections by Ukraine under Russia’s lawsuit. The court thus upheld Russia’s position on the case’s expedited hearing.

On June 23, 2017, Ukraine’s finance ministry filed an appeal to the London Court in the Eurobond case of $3 bln debt to Russia. The court considered Ukraine’s appeal in January 2018.