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Russia may get right to demand Ukraine’s early Eurobond repayment in November

Ukrainian Security Service has opened a criminal case against former Finance Minister Yuriy Kolobov over $3 billion loan Ukraine had taken in Russia

Russia's Finance Minister Anton Siluanov ITAR-TASS/Stanislav Krasilnikov

Russia's Finance Minister Anton Siluanov

© ITAR-TASS/Stanislav Krasilnikov

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Russia’s Finance Ministry confirms Ukraine’s $73 million bond payment

MOSCOW, September 26. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian Finance Ministry does not rule out that covenants on Ukrainian Eurobonds will be violated in the third quarter, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters.

“The covenant has not officially become due, we will receive GDP statistical reports in November. We will decide on this. But according to calculations, with due account of hryvnia devaluation, 60% state debt/GDP ratio is exceeded,” he said.

The covenant becomes due not automatically, Siluanov noted. “This will be our political decision. The decision that was taken by Russia. We will decide what to do next after the covenant was due,” the minister noted.

Ukrainian Security Service has opened a criminal case against former Finance Minister Yuriy Kolobov over $3 billion loan Ukraine had taken in Russia, ITAR-TASS reported earlier. The security agency said that Kolobov and other Ukrainian governmental officials had issued foreign state loan bonds worth $3 billion thanks to Russia’s National Wealth Fund.

Russian Finance Ministry links Ukrainian Security Service’s action with the country’s unwillingness to pay for bonds. Ukraine’s surpassed 60% state debt/GDP ratio “is the main reason to open criminal cases to find the deal invalid.” “All this fuss is apparently caused by the fact that Ukraine is reluctant to pay to us and wants to find a reason to recognize the decision taken by our countries non-compulsory,” the finance minister noted.

The minister recalled that Ukraine had placed bonds on the Irish Stock Exchange under English law. “The stock exchange has checked everything. There are no issues which the stock exchange could have missed,” Siluanov said, adding that "Ukrainians have paid for the first coupon to us, confirming indirectly that the deal was lawful".

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