Russia is still not happy with Ukraine's proposals to restructure $3 billion in debt.
Ukraine in December last year defaulted on Eurobonds that Russia bought with National Welfare Fund (NWF) money. Kyiv offered to restructure the debt on general commercial terms, and Moscow refused, insisting it was sovereign debt. Russia plans to sue Ukraine in the international courts before long, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has said.
The German Finance Ministry is mediating in the talks, Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos at the end of January. She said she regretted not being able to talk to Russia’s Silanov, who did not travel to the forum.
The Russian Finance Ministry has received, via the German ministry, a restructuring proposal which it has not taken seriously because the terms were worse than Ukraine’s commercial creditors received, Svetlana Nikitina, aide to the Russian Finance Minister, told reporters on February 10, without elaborating.
The Russian Finance Ministry says the offer does not recognize the official status of the debt and therefore cannot be considered an attempt to begin the good faith negotiations that International Monetary Fund (IMF) regulations require of Ukraine.
The Russian ministry has received no proposals from Ukraine itself – all it has received is a letter containing a possible solution to the problem from the German ministry.
“Our position is that Ukraine’s offer must comply with the established practice, according to which official creditors receive better terms than commercial creditors,” Nikitina said.
Ukraine’s Minister of Finance Natalie Jaresko has said she was optimistic the situation could be resolved out of court.
