Russia has made an interest payment due on a bond issued in foreign currency, the second since the start of the Ukraine war, according to the Russian Finance Ministry.
A coupon of 102 million U. S. dollars on a foreign currency bond due in 2035 was transferred to the National Settlement Depository, a Russian securities depository, the Russian Finance Ministry said on Tuesday.
From this central depository, the money is to flow to creditors.
With the transfer, the Finance Ministry has “fully” met its obligations under the terms of the bond, it added.
Russia, which is subject to tough sanctions because of its invasion of Ukraine, made its first interest payment since the beginning of the war in the amount of 117 million U.S. dollar earlier this month, but this payment was processed through the bank Citigroup.
There had been speculation as to whether Russia would be able to make its interest payments at all because of the sanctions.
The rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) recently deemed Russia’s solvency as being at risk.
Despite extensive foreign exchange reserves, the country is “very susceptible to payment defaults,” the rating agency noted in a mid-March statement.
