Oh, the irony. A senator of the world’s largest creditor nation has demanded America’s allies do ‘whatever it takes’ to support Ukraine in breaking international law by refusing to pay back $3bn of debt owed to Russia in December. As RT reports, US Senator Chris Murphy of the Foreign Relations Committee exclaimed, “the international community should make it clear that we should take whatever steps necessary to give Ukraine the legal cover it needs to walk away from that debt… I don’t think Ukraine should be obligated to pay Russia back a dime.” One can only wonder how US’s creditors will feel about this perspective (maybe China and EM are already showing theirs).
In late August, a creditor committee led by Franklin Templeton (which owns about $7 billion of Ukrainian bonds) agreed a 20 percent write-off of some $18 billion worth of Eurobonds. Repayment of the remaining amount will be transferred from 2015-2023 to 2019-2027. Russia has refused to accept Ukraine’s haircut, saying it takes no part in ‘the so-called debt operation’ and recommended that Kiev pay in full and on time to avoid ‘both litigation costs and penalty interest for overdue payments.’
The US has been “treating Russia with kid gloves on this question of the debt that Ukraine owes it,” Murphy commented as RT notes…
This post was published at Zero Hedge on 09/25/2015.
Follow on Twitter
Recent Comments