Russia slides into historic debt default as payment period expires
Russia has entered its first major foreign debt default for over a century, after a grace period on two international bond payments lapsed on Sunday night.
Interest payments totaling $100 million were due on May 27 and subject to a grace period which expired on Sunday night. Several media outlets have reported that bondholders have not received the payments, after Russia’s attempts to pay in its ruble currency were blocked by international sanctions.
The Kremlin has rejected the claim that Russia is in default, with spokesperson Dmitry Peskov reportedly telling a press call this morning that Russia made the bond payments due in May but they have been blocked by Euroclear due to Western sanctions, rendering the non-delivery of payments “not [Russia’s] problem.”
Timothy Ash, senior emerging market sovereign strategist at Bluebay Asset Management, said while the default might not have much immediate market impact, Russian sovereign longer maturity eurobonds that were trading at 130 cents before the invasion have already crashed to between 20 and 30 cents, and are now trading at default levels.
“Indeed, Russia likely already defaulted on some ruble denominated instruments owed to foreigners in the weeks just after the invasion, albeit having pulled their ratings, the ratings agencies were not able to call this a default,” Ash said in a note Monday.