U.K. court to hear case of Ukraine USD 3 bln debt Russia in January

The High Court of London has scheduled a hearing on Russia’s demand to Ukraine to repay a USD 3 bln debt on Jan. 17 to Jan. 20, 2017, the TASS news agency reported on Sept. 8, citing Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergey Storchak. Such dates correspond with the Russian Finance Ministry’s requests for an expedited review of this case, Interfax reported.

Recall, a Russian state fund, the only owner of Ukraine’s USD 3 bln Eurobonds that were due in December 2015, refused to participate in a debt restructuring initiated by Ukraine’s Finance Ministry last year. Ukraine treated the fund as a holdout and imposed a repayment moratorium on this debt. After the Russian side appealed to a U.K. court demanding that Ukraine repay the debt, Ukraine responded in late May claiming that the “loan agreement is invalid and unenforceable.”