Russian Finance Ministry states Ukraine's default on eurobonds

The Russian Finance Ministry has stated the Ukrainian default on eurobonds.

The $3 billion eurobonds acquired by Russia in late 2013 with sovereign wealth fund money matured on the New Year's Eve. Ukraine declared a moratorium on servicing that debt and Russia said it would defend its interests in court.

"The Russian Finance Ministry reports on January 1 that Ukraine has not made the payment of $3.075 billion in repayment and servicing of external bonds owned by Russia during the grace period, which expired on December 31, 2015," the ministry said in a statement.

The Finance Ministry contacted The Law Debenture Corporation plc, which acts as the principal creditor to bond issue documents, and initiated legal procedures required for filing a lawsuit against Ukraine. The lawsuit will be filed with a British court, the ministry said.

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said earlier that Russia did not deem dialogue with Ukraine to be impossible even despite the legal action.

"Russia intends to carefully examine any significant proposal from Ukraine, but it also believes that the court proceedings do not rule out a constructive dialogue in order to reach an acceptable settlement of the debt," the ministry said in its statement of December 31.