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Kremlin still opposes IMF decision to grant new $1 bln tranche to Kiev

On September 14, the IMF resumed its loan program for Ukraine after a yearlong pause

International Monetary Fund headquarters building in Washington AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

International Monetary Fund headquarters building in Washington

© AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/. President Vladimir Putin’s Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has reiterated Russia’s objection to the decision of the IMF to allocate the new tranche worthy $1 bln to Ukraine.

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Kremlin: Kiev must pay its debt to Russia

"We do not support this decision, we are against it. Russia’s stance is consistent. Nothing has changed about it," he told reporters.

On Wednesday, September 14, the IMF board resumed its loan program for Ukraine after a yearlong pause, and decided to extend the third tranche worth $1 bln to Kiev. According to a source in the international organization familiar with the matter, the board meeting also focused on future plans. In case Ukraine meets the program’s criteria, the country may receive next tranche worth around $1.3 bln in November and another one worth around $2 bln in February 2017, the sources said.

In December 2013, the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and Viktor Yanukovich, agreed that Moscow would issue a $15-billion credit to Kiev by offering Ukrainian securities.

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Under the program, bonds worth $3 billion were placed at the Irish Stock Exchange on December 20, 2013. Russia repurchased them by using the money from the National Welfare Fund.

Ukraine’s previous government set a moratorium on the payment of the state debt to Russia on December 18, 2015. The then Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk explained that the move had been prompted by Russia’s refusal to strike a debt restructuring deal with Ukraine on a par with private creditor.

On December 20, 2015, Ukraine fell behind with the debt payment to Russia.

In February 2016, Russia filed a lawsuit against Ukraine to London’s High Court demanding the debt payment from Kiev.

Earlier this month, Russia’s Deputy Finance Minister Sergey Storchak told TASS that the High Court in London set the date for the hearing of the dispute over Ukraine’s $3bln debt to Russia for January 17-20, 2017.

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