The U.S. “mother of all sanctions” against Russia apparently made an exception so that Russia could pay foreign speculators. Russia paid the $117 million in interest payment on foreign-held dollar bonds which came due on March 16, doing so in dollars from Russia’s assets frozen by the U.S. Treasury, thus avoiding default. And it did so with U.S. Treasury approval, various media reported.
CNN cited Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov’s statement that “we have the money, we made the payment, now the ball is in America’s court,” and reported that a spokesman for the Treasury said the United States would allow the payments to go through. If the U.S. had blocked the payment, Russia had said it would pay in rubles rather than dollars, but Fitch Ratings had warned on March 15 that if that happened, it could constitute a default, CNN reported.
CNBC’s version added the detail that the U.S. Treasury had said previously that sanctions enforced against Russia will not bar the country from making good on its international debt payments, at least until May 25.
