Kiev Seeks To Resume Debt Negotiations with Moscow
According to the Press Center of the Ministry of Finance, Ukraine has announced its readiness to resume negotiations with Russia on restructuring the Eurobond worth $3 billion.
"Despite any legal actions and without bias towards the whole debt situation, Ukraine is ready to negotiate in good faith with Russia about the restructuring of $3 billion worth of Eurobonds, which should have been paid in December of 2015," the Press Center stated.
The Ministry of Finance has taken into account the decision of the Russian Federation to initiate a lawsuit against Ukraine."Ukraine is ready to defend itself against any claims that might be filed against it, and I am sure that it will do so successfully in any case," the Ministry said.
As noted, Ukraine regrets that Russia refused to participate in the debt exchange operation that was accepted by all other owners of Ukrainian bonds.The Russian Ministry of Finance has initiated a lawsuit against Ukraine concerning its $3 billion dollar debt.
In October, 13 of the 14 issue holders of Ukraine's Eurobonds supported their restructuring. The bonds are valued at 14.36 billion dollars and 600 million dollars. Only Russia refused consent.
The Russian Federation refused to discuss restructuring on general conditions, insisting on calling it a sovereign debt and refusing to admit its commercial nature. The International Monetary Fund has confirmed that this is indeed a sovereign debt. However, Kiev said that Moscow will not get better terms than other lenders and is ready to take the case to court.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said on December 29th that the government will allocate funds for the services of lawyers to participate in the lawsuit against Russia regarding this debt.
Previously, Finance Minister Natalia Yaresko expected that talks would continue with Russia at the beginning of 2016.