Russia has threatened to pay international bondholders in roubles rather than dollars just days before a key interest payment on its external debt comes due.
Anton Siluanov, Russia’s finance minister, said on Sunday that it was “absolutely fair” the country would make all of its sovereign debt payments in roubles until western sanctions that he claimed have frozen $300bn of the country’s reserves were lifted.
Moscow is scheduled to make a combined $117mn in interest payments this Wednesday on two dollar-denominated bonds, according to JPMorgan. Neither bond’s contracts gives Russia the option of paying in roubles, according to the Wall Street bank.
The latest warning to foreign bondholders ratchets up the chances the country will default on its debt for the first time since the Russian financial crisis in 1998, as its financial system comes under heavy strain from the…
