Russia is going to file a lawsuit against Ukraine at the High Court of London over the $3 billion debt that has not been repaid. Interestingly, the case will be heard under the British law. Recently, the Kremlin used to express doubts about competence of London judges and called their rulings “politically tilted”. Looking back on the debt’s history, in late 2013 Moscow issued the $3 billion Eurobond to Ukraine headed by pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych. The maturity of the Eurobond loan expired in December 2015. Kiev failed to repay the debt within the 10-day grace period. So on January 1, 2016 the ex-Soviet country officially defaulted on its debt.
According to Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, Russia brought an action against Ukraine “after numerous futile attempts to encourage Ukraine to enter into good faith negotiations to restructure the debt.” “The protection of the rights of the Russian Federation as a creditor will be carried out by an independent, authoritative court, which will impartially consider the dispute between the two sovereign states," he stressed.
In response to Russia’s claim, new Ukraine’s authorities termed this deal a bribe to Yanukovych and imposed a moratorium on the debt repayment. From now on, the disputed $3 billion loan is to be settled at the High Court in London. Russia’s Economy Minister Alexey Ulyukaev is sure Moscow has a 100% chance of winning the trial.
