Report: Fin Minister: Ukraine, Russia must solve bond debt issue ‘16

MOSCOW/KIEV, Dec 30 (PRIME) -- Moscow and Kiev must agree on redemption of a U.S. $3 billion Ukrainian bond in 2016, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told channel Rossiya 24 in an interview broadcast Wednesday.

“I think that we must make a decision next year,” Siluanov said.

Earlier in December, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recognized this debt as sovereign, after Kiev said that will redeem the debt to Russia only on the same conditions that it set for private investors. After the IMF’s intervention, the Ukrainian government introduced a moratorium on the debt repayment.

Russia has not received proposals on debt settlement from Ukraine so far, Siluanov said. The minister also said that he was surprised by Ukraine’s dismissal of the earlier debt restructuring offer. “It seemed to me that this was a very preferential proposal, and the Ukrainian colleagues should have reacted.”

Siluanov said that Moscow will send a claim against Ukraine to an international arbitration court working under the U.K. legislation after Thursday, when the grace period expires.

Any proposals regarding debt settlement after that will be considered despite the litigations, Siluanov said.

Ukraine’s Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko said that Kiev is expected to resume the negotiations over the debt settlement with Russia in January after the New Year holidays.

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