Russia wants to repay foreign debt in rubles

According to Moscow, Russia will now settle its foreign debt in rubles. Today in the Telegram news service, the Ministry of Finance said that future payments will be made “in the Russian national currency”. The reason for this is that the US has removed a similar debt-settlement exemption. This makes it “impossible to continue to pay the national debt in dollars.”

The US Treasury announced earlier that the sanctions relief that allowed Russia to pay off its foreign debt in dollars expired overnight (local time). In the context of sanctions, among other things, the possibility of the Russian state being able to repay its debts with dollars stored in American accounts was blocked. However, Moscow can still undo the dollar that is in Russia. This exception has now expired.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov confirmed that his country has sufficient financial resources and will also repay its debts. He denied the possibility of default. The current situation is “artificially created by an unfriendly country”.