Russia says it avoided default on its $40 billion sovereign debt, but creditors say they haven’t been paid yet

Russia says it avoided default on its $40 billion sovereign debt, but creditors say they haven’t been paid yet

Russia's finance ministry said it deposited a $117 million interest payment on two dollar-denominated bonds due Wednesday, despite global ratings agencies predicting the country may be heading for its first default on foreign-currency debt since 1918.

“Claims that Russia cannot fulfil its sovereign debt obligations are untrue,” Russia Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told state-controlled Russia Today earlier this week. “We have the necessary funds to service our obligations.”

Last week, Fitch Ratings said that a Russian sovereign default was “imminent” and downgraded its rating of Russian bonds to the group's second-lowest level. International Monetary Fund managing director Kristalina Georgieva said Sunday that she did not consider a Russian default to be an “improbable event.”