MOSCOW, December 9. /TASS/. The Kremlin believes the IMF’s decision on lending to the countries with past-due loans to be a dangerous precedent, the causes and possible consequences of this decision will be analyzed, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.

"We will carefully analyze the causes and possible consequences of this decision," he said. Peskov added that the main issue is sovereign debt of Kiev. "(The decision of the IMF - TASS) precedent, of course, is unwanted for us and, most importantly, from our point of view, quite dangerous in the international practice, because, in plain language, creates a very dangerous precedent for allowing the possibility of non-payment of sovereign debt," Peskov said.

"The question is - what will happen next?" the press secretary of the Russian president concluded.

Russia’s Minister of Economic Development Alexey Ulyukayev said that the decision of the IMF regarding the debt of Ukraine creates a problem for the global market for sovereign debt in general.

"Of course we have a negative attitude. It (IMF decision on sovereign debt - TASS) is especially strange if applies to the past loans ... This is a problem not only for Russia, Ukraine, but the overall global market of sovereign debt," he said.

According to him, the decision is pushing Ukraine closer to default. "Of course, it will lead to a "default situation" for Ukraine. Of course, we will use legal procedures," Ulyukayev said.

Earlier the International Monetary Fund lifted the ban on lending to nations with past-due sovereign debts. The decision was made at the IMF’s Executive Board meeting on Tuesday. Russia voted against it.

"The IMF's Executive Board met today and agreed to change the current policy on non-toleration of arrears to official creditors," IMF Chief Spokesman Gerry Rice said. "We will provide details on the scope and rationale for this policy change in the next day or so," he added.

The decision particularly means the IMF will continue implementing its anti-crisis program for Ukraine even in case Kiev defaults on its debts to Russia. Certainly, it will also apply to other situations when nations with sovereign debts simultaneously use the credit support of the Fund.

Russia voted against the decision of the Executive Board, the Russian directorate in the IMF told TASS.