Russia in historic foreign debt default

Russia has defaulted on its foreign-currency sovereign debt for the first time in a century, the culmination of ever-tougher sanctions imposed after the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine


RUSSIAN DEBT PAYMENTS: Amounts due by month ($ millions)*

May 27
Interest payment originally due on two foreign-currency bonds

Jun 26: Russia considered to be in default after 30-day grace period on $100m payment expires

Jun 27
Kremlin rejects default claims, says bond payments made in May were blocked due to Western sanctions

400		394	372
300 			
200 
100 	100			84	110	53
0
	May	Jun	Sep 	Oct 	Nov 	Dec

*Includes euro and dollar payments. Figures rounded


PAST RUSSIAN DEFAULTS

1998: President Boris Yeltsin’s government defaulted on $40 billion of domestic debt during Russian financial crisis

1918: Russia last defaulted on its foreign debt when Bolshevik revolutionaries under Vladimir Lenin repudiated Tsarist-era debt


Source: Bloomberg News
Pictures: Getty Images, Wikimedia
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