Ukraine says it won’t repay $3-B debt to Russian Federation

Kiev and the West have accused Russia of sending regular troops to eastern Ukraine to buttress the Russian-speaking insurgency while Moscow has repeatedly denied the claim. Ukraine has said it has no intention to replay it.

“We never said there were not people there who carried out certain tasks including in the military sphere”, Putin told reporters.

Many eastern European member states are notably more critical of Moscow, fearing Russia’s intervention in Ukraine shows it wants to reassert its Soviet era influence in the region.

Stoltenberg said Putin’s remarks also meant that Moscow clearly had “a special responsibility” in ensuring implementation of the Minsk peace accords aimed at halting the conflict that erupted in April past year. Delayed repairs to the pylons on the part of Kiev authorities and the suspension of trade links with Crimea prompted Russian Federation to suspend coal exports to Ukraine.

Russian officials have threatened to launch legal action by the end of the year to reclaim the cash from Ukraine.

After months of denials, Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted for the first time Thursday that his country’s military is operating in separatist-held eastern Ukraine.

Putin called for implementation of the Minsk agreement, adding that “we are not interested in exacerbating the conflict”.

“Today we mapped out plans for the future and discussed further steps for cooperation”, he said.

Kiev’s decision to declare a moratorium on its debt to Russia does not cancel its obligation to repay the loan, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Saturday.

The European Union has agreed to prolong the anti-Russian sanctions, but the decision will be officially announced later, the Interfax news agency reported Friday, citing Elmar Brok, head of the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee.