After months of teetering on the edge of default, Russia is now just hours away from a dramatic moment in the financial battle that the US and others have waged against the Kremlin over its invasion of Ukraine.
A grace period on about $100 million of missed bond payments – blocked because of wide-ranging sanctions – ends on Sun
Agencies
day night. There won’t be an official declaration, and Russia is already disputing the designation, but if investors don’t have their money by the deadline, there will be an “event of default” on Monday morning, according to the bond documents.
It’s largely a symbolic development for now, given that Russia is already an economic, financial and political outcast across most of the world. But it showcases how the US, Europe and others have tightened the screws since the invasion started in February to make it all-but impossible for Russia to conduct what would otherwise be normal financial business.
For Russia, it will mark its first foreign default since the Bolshevik repudiation of Czarist-era debts in 1918.
The country tipped very near to such a moment earlier this year, but managed a last-ditch escape by switching payment methods.
Agencies