Payment of coupons on Russian debts depends on the USA, says Moscow | Photo credit: Shutterstock
March 16 (Reuters) – Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Wednesday it was up to the United States whether or not to allow payment of two coupons of $117 dollar-denominated bonds. million dollars (106.4 million euros), adding that Washington must now clarify its position.
In an interview with the RT Arabic channel, Anton Silouanov announced that Russia had issued a payment order on Monday to honor the payment of these coupons and that it was now up to the United States to accept or not the transaction.
Russia had said it would make payments in rubles if dollar settlements were not possible, but credit rating agency Fitch said on Tuesday that would constitute default after a 30-day grace period.
“The ability or inability to meet our currency equivalent obligations is not up to us, we have the money, we have made the payment, now the ball is in court, primarily, with the US authorities,” the official said. Russian minister.
Western sanctions imposed on Moscow for invading Ukraine have barred Russia from mechanisms essential to the proper functioning of global financial markets and almost half of its central bank’s $640 billion in gold and foreign exchange reserves are frozen.
“The payment was received by the corresponding US bank,” Anton Silouanov said. “At this time the payment is being processed and we do not yet have any information on whether it has gone through or not. It has not cleared yet.
“But we know the bank is in discussion with the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and has requested detailed information from us about the purpose of the payment,” he added.
(Reporting by Reuters, French version Laetitia Volga, editing by Marc Angrand)