Moscow was last night on the brink of the first default on its international debts since the Bolshevik Revolution.
Russian finance minister Anton Siluanov insisted the debt interest payment worth £90million had been made.
But there was no clarification from Washington, leaving the country close to its first default on overseas debts since 1918.
Russian finance minister Anton Siluanov (pictured) insisted the debt interest payment worth £90m had been made. But there was no clarification from Washington
Moscow was due yesterday to pay $117million in interest on two dollar bonds it sold in 2013, the first payments since President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The repayment marks a crucial test of Moscow’s ability to continue to pay its way on the global stage.
Siluanov said the payment had been sent to the US bank that usually handles such transactions. But he warned there was a risk the cash would not get through.
It is not known whether Russia paid in dollars or roubles.
The Kremlin has said it will make the payments in roubles if dollar payments fail to go through but ratings agency Fitch has said that would still be a default.
If missed, the default would be a huge embarrassment for Putin and viewed across the globe as a sign of weakness and a blow to national prestige.
And if the war in Ukraine continues it could be the first of many.
In 1918 Lenin refused to pay debts as the Bolshevik regime would not recognise Tsarist-era loans on the basis that they had been issued by the Tsarist government, who the Bolsheviks had declared an unauthorised regime.
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