The American media announced the technical default of Russia on foreign debt tomorrow, June 27
Russia is “a few hours away from default,” and this will happen for the first time in 100 years, Bloomberg reports.
As the news agency explains, the grace period for the payment of interest on government bonds in the amount of about $100 million expires on June 26.
If investors do not receive the required funds by Monday, then the “fact of non-fulfillment of obligations” will be recorded, and a technical default on foreign debt will occur on June 27.
Such an event will happen for the first time in 100 years – the last time Russia defaulted on foreign debt was in 2018.
However, under the current circumstances, the Russian authorities will not declare a default officially, the agency notes.
Recall that in April, the United States banned Russia from servicing foreign debt without renewing the license allowing holders of Russian sovereign bonds to receive payments. The license expired on May 25.
On May 27, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation announced that the National Settlement Depository, at the expense of frozen reserves, paid two issues of dollar Eurobonds in the amount of $ 71.25 million and 26.5 million euros with maturities in 2026 and 2036.
On May 30, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that Russia would settle with holders of Russian Eurobonds using a mechanism similar to the scheme for paying for Russian gas in rubles.
Similar payments in rubles were made on Eurobond coupons maturing in 2027 and 2047.
At the same time, the Finance Minister refused to consider the termination of payments on foreign debt in foreign currency as a default, since this became impossible due to sanctions imposed by the West.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the payment of foreign currency debt in rubles. For this purpose, ruble accounts of the “And” type were opened to all foreign investors without their personal presence.
The very next day, the Ministry of Finance paid off Eurobonds in rubles for the first time under the new scheme.