Ukraine imposes moratorium on ‘Yanukovych’s debt’ repayment – Yatsenyuk

“If Ukraine does not settle the due sum within the beneficial term to December 31, Russian Federation will file a suit to recover the debt”, he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to restructure the debt last month if a Western country or non-governmental financial organization backed the debt on Ukraine’s behalf, but none offered.

According to Siluanov, Russia will appeal to a court to recover the debt, should Ukraine fail to pay it within the grace period until December 31. Moscow said it would file a lawsuit against Kiev to the worldwide court if the payments were not met. Payments are frozen “until our proposals on restructuring are accepted or until a relevant court decision is made”, he said.

Ukraine’s Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko said the country was “committed to working in good faith to finding a resolution”, and that talks with the Russian side were continuing.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk speaks during a government meeting in Kiev, Ukraine.

Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said Ukraine’s decision on the moratorium was not a surprise. That move could jeopardize crucial loans that Ukraine has been receiving from a $17.5 billion bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund.

Ukraine’s announced moratorium does not cancel its obligations to settle the debt, Siluanov said. Ukrainian leaders have accused Moscow of sending troops and weapons to the east, a claim the Kremlin has vehemently denied.

The two sides have been engaged in a dispute over the United States dollars three-billion loan given by Moscow the government of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych shortly before his ouster in 2013.

“This is absolutely incorrect”, Peskov said after a journalist asked him if it was possible to say that Russian military specialists were present in southeast Ukraine at some point of the conflict there.

But during his annual news conference on Thursday, Putin conceded there were “people involved in solving certain issues, including in the military sphere” in eastern Ukraine.