Kremlin disproves allegations of Russian bankruptcy

• Russia was unable to pay almost $100 million in interest on two government bonds by Sunday night.
•  Western sanctions prevented Moscow from purchasing foreign currency to pay bondholders.
• Russia is awash with foreign currency from oil and gas sales and has repeatedly attempted to make payments on its debt.

The Kremlin has disputed reports that Russia defaulted on its government debt following the expiration of a 30-day grace period for making late interest payments on its bonds.

Russia was unable to pay almost $100 million in interest on two government bonds by Sunday night due to western sanctions imposed over the conflict in Ukraine, which prevented Moscow from purchasing foreign currency to pay bondholders.

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According to Interfax, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, stated that allegations that Russia had defaulted for the first time since 1998 were “completely unjustified.”

Even after western nations froze over $300bn of Russia’s central bank deposits, Russia is awash with foreign currency from oil and gas sales and has repeatedly attempted to make payments on its debt.

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Peskov said it was “not our problem” that sanctions had prevented intermediaries from transferring the payments. “There is no foundation to call this a default,” he said.

Ukraine and some of its western partners want to use the frozen deposits to assist in the reconstruction of war-related destruction. Peskov said this would be “completely illegal and essentially amount to straight-up theft”.