MINSK, October 18. /TASS/. Belarus is developing a mechanism of payments to Russian holders of Belarusian Eurobonds through a Russian depository, Finance Minister Yury Seliverstov said in an interview with the Belarus 1 television channel.

"We are working on an agreement with the National Settlement Depository [the central Russian depository - TASS], which was proposed by our partners to be selected as a one-stop shop, so that all payments go via this entity," the minister said. As soon as partners gather all their securities in this single depository and furnish lists of their holders to the Belarusian side, it will start making payments to them, he noted. "They have not yet made this operation; we are practicing relevant algorithms with them. Our actions are aimed at developing a mechanism bypassing Western infrastructure and making payments between two friendly countries," Seliverstov informed.

The Belarusian government made the decision amid sanctions that the country would honor debt commitments on Eurobonds in Belarusian rubles and transferred an amount in the national currency to a special account with Belarusbank. The access to funds was provided for the payment agent - Citibank N.A., London Branch, which refused to be the agent. Minsk had already made several Eurobond payments in the national currency and international rating agencies lowered the credit rating of the republic to a pre-default one after that.