Moscow will not compromise on Ukraine's debt, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said October 9 before meeting with Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalia Yaresko.
Siluanov said Russia will insist on full repayment in December of a $3 billion Eurobond that Kyiv sold Moscow in late 2013 when former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was still in power.
"We have a firm position, no compromises. One needs to meet, of course, talk, that is always correct and beneficial," Siluanov told reporters on the sidelines of an International Monetary Fund meeting in Lima, Peru.
After the meeting, which was brokered by German Finance Minser Wolfgang Schaeuble, Yaresko said she asked Russia to participate in Ukraine's debt restructuring with private creditors, and said Russia can join any time until October 29.
But Siluanov pointed out that the debt Kyiv owes Moscow is sovereign debt and must be treated differently than the commercial debts Ukraine is restructuring.
Siluanov said Russia would take Ukraine to court if it defaults on the sovereign debt.
Siluanov said Ukraine's repayment funds are already penciled in for use by one of Russia's sovereign wealth funds next year on infrastructure projects.
Russia needs the money, he said, "especially in current conditions when the access of Russian companies to international financial markets has been limited."