Russia has offered to buy back dollar bonds maturing next week in roubles in a move seen by analysts as helping local holders of the $2 billion sovereign issue receive payment
Russia has offered to buy back dollar bonds maturing next week in roubles in a move seen by analysts as helping local holders of the $2 billion sovereign issue receive payment, while also easing the country’s hard-currency repayment burden.
The finance ministry offer on Eurobonds maturing on April 4, Russia’s biggest debt payment this year, follows Western moves to tighten sanctions against the country over its invasion of Ukraine and to freeze Moscow out of international finance. Moscow, which calls its actions in Ukraine a “special military operation”, says Western measures amount to “economic war”. In response, it has introduced countermeasures and has demanded foreign firms pay for Russian gas in roubles rather than dollars or euros.
The bonds – issued in 2012 – would be bought at a price equivalent to 100% of their nominal value, the ministry said its statement. Buying back bonds will reduce the overall size of the outstanding bond when it matures on April 4. However, it was not immediately clear if the amount the government would buy back was limited or what would happen to holdings of creditors that would not tender their bonds.
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