The conversion of rubles paid in repayment of external debts will be possible due to the unfreezing of gold and foreign exchange reserves (GFR) of Russia, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said. The minister said that a special procedure for servicing external debts, including public debts, has been established.
“We will repay our external obligations in rubles, and we will carry out the conversion by unfreezing our gold and foreign exchange reserves,” Mr. Siluanov said at a meeting of the president with members of the government.
Earlier, the Ministry of Finance announced that it would “timely and in full” fulfill its obligations to service and redeem Russian government securities.
Due to Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, economic sanctions were imposed on Russian banks and state corporations, and Russia’s sovereign debt and assets of the Central Bank were also subject to restrictions. Of the $643 billion in international reserves of the Russian Federation (as of February 18), according to rough estimates, no more than $150–200 billion remained available.
Read about the consequences of sanctions in the publication “Kommersant” “External debt is not payable.”