Moscow. November 18. Russia is ready to discuss directly with Ukraine proposals on the restructuring of Eurobonds worth $3 billion, said Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.
“We have sent their proposals to the international monetary Fund, as IMF makes the program of assistance to Ukraine, since we are talking about restructuring, additional funding must be resolved through the program, through the Fund’s shareholders. Therefore, the Finance Ministry discussed this issue with key shareholders of the Fund and submitted a formal proposal to the IMF. I personally wrote a letter to Mrs. Lagarde. They said they will investigate,” – said Siluanov to reporters.
He did not rule out a meeting with representatives of Ukraine, but so far the decisions on this point. “But if our proposals will be welcomed, of course, will meet with Ukrainian colleagues”, – said the Russian Minister.
“We are ready to discuss with Ukraine. First, the group of twenty (G20 summit in Antalya), we have not seen colleagues from Ukraine, the second was the meeting with the President with the managing Director of the IMF, on which were presented the proposals. Of course, we need to understand these proposals from the IMF, key IMF shareholders and, of course, Ukraine”, – said the Minister.
Earlier, Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said that the situation with Russian Eurobonds Ukraine, “so mnogokomponentnaya and multi-layered that it is discussed without the participation of the debtor”. “At some point the interests and needs of Ukraine will be considered, obvious,” at the same time, he added.
To mention the fact that the proposed conditions are very different from the terms of restructuring of debts of Ukraine in front of commercial creditors, Siluanov said that it is impossible to put a number of official and commercial creditors.
“Commercial lenders to purchase those securities on the market at a discount, they could at half price purchase, and, accordingly, still earn on restructuring, which was proposed by Ukraine. We, however, gave money to non-market conditions, far below the market, so when you consider our proposal, given the fact that we could provide the money, as some experts say, to recalculate based on how much it was worth the money for the cost which was at the time of investing money in bonds of Ukraine, you get very good conditions for Ukraine,” – said the Minister. Answering the question whether there were any plans to include a coupon on the remaining balance of the debt, Siluanov noted that this is a “negotiation issue”.
The Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Russia agreed to restructure Ukraine’s debt at $3 billion over three years. It is expected that Kiev would pay Russia $1 billion a year over the next three years. The Russian side has asked the US government or the EU or the IMF to provide guarantees such repayment.
The Russian proposal has not yet revealed until the end. First, it is not clear when should paid annual billion – at the beginning, middle or end of next year. In addition, will within three years of installments to bear interest on the principal or interest payment in December will be the last, is also currently unknown.
The IMF and the Fund’s shareholders have to decide on the Russian proposal within three weeks.
Putin stressed that Moscow offered the best conditions than initially requested by the IMF. “We just agreed with the restructuring of the Ukrainian debt, we have offered the best conditions of this restructuring than we have been asked by the IMF. We were asked to move the payment for the next year. I said that we are ready to go deeper restructuring: ready to go to this year did not get any money and next year get a billion, in the 17th – and another billion in the 18th – billion”, he said.
