Russia says it paid foreign dollar debt in rubles amid default fears

Russia says it paid foreign dollar debt in rubles amid default fears

MOSCOW: Russia said Wednesday it had been forced to make foreign debt payments on dollar-denominated bonds in rubles, in a new blow to its efforts to avoid a sovereign default amid unprecedented Western sanctions over the Ukraine conflict. The announcement came on the 42nd day of Russia’s military campaign in pro-Western Ukraine, with thousands killed and more than 11 million displaced as refugees or within the country in the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.

The West has pummeled Russia with debilitating sanctions since President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine on February 24. On Wednesday, the United States and EU were readying new sanctions after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky showed the UN Security Council harrowing images of violence. The Russian finance ministry said on Wednesday that it had been forced to repay $649.2 million to foreign debt-holders in rubles after a correspondent bank refused to execute payment instructions.

“A foreign correspondent bank refused to execute instructions for the payment” of debt on two bonds on April 4, the ministry said in a statement. “In order to fulfil the state debt obligations of the Russian Federation,” the finance ministry said it “was forced to attract a Russian financial institution to