Russia makes interesting proposal to IMF, Ukraine – finance minister
Russia has made the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Ukraine a proposal, which may be used as the basis of regulating Ukraine's debt to Russia, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said.
"Russia made a proposal about Ukraine's payment of debt to Russia in the amount of $3 billion, the repayment of which should take place in December of this year," Siluanov told journalists.
He said: "The proposal that Russia made will be interesting and may be used as a basis for regulating the debt problems of Ukraine to Russia."
"We and our Ukrainian partners have not agreed upon this issue, because there were not any proposals from our Ukrainian colleagues, which differed from the settlement of debt to commercial creditors. I repeatedly emphasized that we think that it is unacceptable to speak about restructuring in the same way one does with commercial creditors," Siluanov said.
The minister expressed the hope that these proposals will be considered, and also for progress in connection with this matter of finding solutions for the settlement of this issue.
"We are not planning a meeting with the Ukrainian finance minister for now," Siluanov said.
Instead he proposed that after the latest proposal of Russia, such a meeting could take place.
"I think that initially we will hold a meeting and talks with the IMF, and also with our key colleagues, the shareholders of the IMF. At the same time we are ready to hold talks with Ukraine," Siluanov said.
