Russia on Sunday night missed a deadline for a 30-day grace period on interest payments of USD 100 million on two Eurobonds. The interest payments were originally due on May 27, Poland’s forsal.pl website said.
The default further alienates Russia from the global financial system and demonstrates the effectiveness of Western sanctions over the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, forsal.pl reported.
These sanctions have included a freeze on the Russian central bank’s foreign reserves and banning Russia from the SWIFT global financial messaging system, forsal.pl noted.
Russia, meanwhile, has offered to pay the debts in rubles, according to forsal.pl.
Moscow claims any default is artificial because it has the means to pay its debts. It says that the West’s sanctions have put a freeze on its foreign-currency reserves held in foreign countries, according to news outlets.
Source: forsal.pl, PAP, bbc.com