“The ball is on the side of the Americans”: Siluanov said that Russia handed over to the United States a “payment” for the national debt

Russia has the necessary funds to fulfill its obligations under the public debt, but the possibility of payments in foreign currency does not depend on the Russian Federation. This was stated in an interview with RT Arabic by the head of the Russian Ministry of Finance Anton Siluanov.

“The ability or impossibility of fulfilling our obligations in foreign currency does not depend on us (Russia – ed.), we have the money, we paid the payment, now the ball is on the side, first of all, of the American authorities,” RIA Novosti quotes the minister.

At the same time, he later stated that there is still no information on the passage of the payment on Russian Eurobonds in foreign currency, and there are risks that it will not reach the final recipients

Earlier on Wednesday, the international rating agency Fitch warned that Russia’s scheduled coupon payments on dollar Eurobonds in rubles today would be considered a sovereign default after the 30-day grace period for debt repayment expires.

Prior to this, Siluanov said that Russia, which fell under tough Western sanctions due to the military operation in Ukraine, prepared a payment order for coupon payments on sovereign Eurobonds that fall on March 16, and if foreign banks cannot make this payment due to for freezing international reserves of the Russian Federation, payments on Eurobonds will be made in rubles.

Recall that on February 21, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees recognizing the independence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), and on February 24 he made an emergency appeal to the Russians and announced a special military operation in Donbass. In his speech, he stated that “circumstances require decisive action from Russia” and stressed that “Russia will not allow Ukraine to have nuclear weapons.”

In response to Russia’s actions, Western countries (USA, Canada, European Union, Great Britain, Japan) announced new, tougher sanctions against the Russian Federation, including financial and economic ones.

In particular, Russian banks fell under the sanctions, including Sberbank, VTB, Novikombank, FC Otkritie and Sovcombank, and for a number of state-owned companies it was difficult to attract foreign capital.

Later, the EU countries and the United States agreed to disconnect Russian banks that fell under sanctions from the international system of interbank transactions and information exchange SWIFT. In addition, it was decided to freeze the assets of the Bank of Russia, which will create difficulties for its use of international reserves. EU countries also pledged to take steps to limit the sale of citizenship — the so-called “golden passports” that allow wealthy Russians connected to the Russian government to become citizens of EU states and gain access to their financial systems. In addition, the European Union, the United States, Canada and a number of other countries have closed the sky for Russian aircraft.

You can follow the chronicle of events around Ukraine here.