Official says Cyprus can repay debt to Russia in August–September

MOSCOW, Jul 3 (PRIME) -- Cyprus plans to repay its 2.5 billion euro debt to Russia ahead of schedule, at the end of August, or the beginning of September, Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak told reporters on Wednesday.

“Cyprus has told us about an early repayment, and we must accept the payment under an intergovernmental agreement, albeit early repayment leads to interest losses of future periods,”Storchak said.

Cyprus borrowed from Russia in 2013 at 2.5%. The 10-year bonds are traded at 1.4%.

Storchak also said that Ukraine is not an insolvent borrower. “Ukraine is not among the insolvent borrowers, it is not. When, from the point of view of the theory, a sovereign debtor does not pay a creditor, it either does not pay because it cannot, or because it does not want to. In our case it simply does not want to do this,” he said.

Russia bought Ukraine’s U.S. $3 billion 2-year Eurobonds in December 2013 and later rejected restructuring conditions offered by the country to its commercial creditors. Kiev insisted that the terms of debt repayment to Russia should be the same as for private creditors. The International Monetary Fund recognized the debt as sovereign.

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