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West is pushing Russia towards artificial default — Kremlin

According to Dmitry Peskov, there are not any grounds for the default of the Russian Federation

MOSCOW, June 8. /TASS/. The West is pushing Russia towards a "man-made default," while there are no real grounds for the country’s bankruptcy, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.

"Indeed, the West is pushing [the Russian Federation] towards a default. But here we should always make a reservation - to an artificial default. This is a man-made default, because there are not any grounds for the default of the Russian Federation, absolutely," Peskov said.

When asked about the mechanism of payments on Russia’s foreign debt, the Kremlin official proposed to clarify it in the Finance Ministry.

"As for the mechanics of payments, it's better to ask our Finance Ministry," he said.

On June 3, the European Union added the National Settlement Depository (NSD) to the sixth package of anti-Russian sanctions. NSD is a Russian non-banking financial institution and Russia's central depository. It is 99.99% owned by the Moscow Exchange and is its settlement depository. It is used to service securities, including Russian government debt, and debts of 17 more legal entities. After it was included to the sanctions list the institution declared an emergency situation in the conduct of depository and banking activities.

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Russia's domestic policy

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