Cornered by the United States, Russia affirmed that it will pay its foreign debt in rubles

Russia said on Wednesday that begin to repay debt abroad in rublesfollowing the US decision to terminate a waiver allowing Moscow to make such payments in dollars.

“Noting that the refusal to extend this license makes it impossible to continue respecting the government’s foreign debt in U.S. dollars, payments will be made in Russian currency“, the Russian Ministry of Finance said in a statement to the Telegram.

The end of the exemption ordered by Washington will come two days after Russia’s next debt service payment, which approximately $ 100 million in interest on its obligations, leaving Moscow exposed to a default default.

In force since Western sanctions against Russia began in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine launched on February 24, the waiver has so far allowed Moscow to escape default.

The proposal is Washington decided to allow “a smooth transition and investors to sell their titles ”, explained last week by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who also hinted at“ likely ”repression on the proposal.

The governor of Russia’s central bank, Elvira Nabioullina, acknowledged on April 29 that Moscow faced with “payment difficulties”but refused to talk about potentially entering his country’s default.

Russian foreign debt represents, according to the Ministry of Finance, between 4,500,000 and 4,700,000 rubles (78,000 to 81,000 million dollars at the current rate), that is, the 20% of your total debt to the public.

Source: AFP