Russia misses a deadline to pay back its US$100 million debt to international creditors, bringing the country closer to default. It will be the first time that the country has defaulted since 1918.
Russia defaulted on its foreign-currency sovereign debt for the first time in the last 100 years, the culmination of ever-tougher Western sanctions that shut down payment routes to overseas creditors.
For several months, the country found paths around the penalties imposed after the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. But at the end of the day on 26th June, Sunday, the grace period on about US$100 million of snared interest payments due May 27 expired, a deadline considered an event of default if missed. Russia has pushed back against the default designation, claimed that Russia has the funds to cover any bills and Russia has been forced into non-payment.