IMF to decide on status of Ukrainian debt to Russia on Wednesday – Siluanov
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will decide on the status of Ukraine's $3 billion Eurobond debt to Russia on Wednesday, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said.
"We've formulated our own proposals [on restructuring the debt]. Now we're waiting for the debtor's proposals. The IMF is due to decide on the debt's status today. Russia has submitted its request and today, even without a meeting of the board of directors, the Fund's position has been expressed, and today is the third day on which it can be challenged. If it is not challenged then the Fund will reach its verdict on the debt's status today," he said.
"Once the IMF has confirmed that status, we think Ukraine must reach a decision on revising the government-approved list of creditors," he said. Russia will hold talks with Ukraine about changing the list of commercial creditors, to which Russia has been added, he said.
"There's no way we can or will or intend to negotiate with Ukraine on the basis of a status equal to a commercial one," Siluanov said.
"Even the IMF, when adopting the latest amendments in its documents [necessary to continue its aid program for Ukraine even despite the possibility it will default on the debt to Russia], said that the official creditor must have better terms for restructuring than commercial creditors. The Fund writes that the decision it reached on changing the rules for financing programs while there are arrears does not changed the established practice where the official creditor gets better terms than commercial ones," he said.
"If a decision is reached on official status then I've no doubt this will present more arguments that Russia must absolutely not be treated as a commercial creditor. If the IMF confirms [this official debt status] then this would be a further argument in our favor," he said.
Siluanov also said Russia was prepared to discuss settling the $3 billion debt issue out of court. "We ready to, but the timeframe really doesn't allow us to," he said.
"We're open to cooperation but this is probably technically impossible," he said, recalling that the bonds must be redeemed by the end of December so there was no time for talks.
