Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decree, according to which a new temporary procedure for the fulfillment of obligations on the external foreign currency debt of the Russian Federation is introduced. Payment will be made in rubles.
The National Settlement Depository (NSD), against which sanctions were previously imposed, will open type “I” ruble accounts in the name of foreign depositories for payments to holders of Russian Eurobonds. The procedure for determining the amount will be established by the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation.
“The central depository does not require the consent or instruction of foreign depositories to carry out operations on accounts of the “I” type,” the decree says.
As Kommersant clarifies, the Russian authorities will consider the Eurobond obligations fulfilled if payments are made in rubles in an amount “equivalent to the value of obligations in foreign currency and calculated at the foreign exchange rate formed on the domestic foreign exchange market of the Russian Federation on the day when the Russian Federation was payment has been made to the central depository.
According to TASS, the head of state instructed the Cabinet of Ministers and the Ministry of Finance to identify banks for payments on Eurobonds under the new scheme within 10 days and settle the technical side of the issue. In addition, the ministry, in agreement with the Central Bank, must, within two days, “establish the procedure for indexing the amounts” that are credited to special accounts for payments on securities, and “define a list of documents that confirm the rights of a Eurobond holder.”
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