The commercial part of the debts of the former USSR has been completely restructured

During negotiations between Russia and the London Club of Creditors, an agreement was reached on the final settlement of the commercial debt of the former USSR, the Ekho Moskvy radio station reports, citing Interfax.

According to Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Kolotukhin, this was the last major category of Soviet debt that still remained unresolved. It represents 4 debts of foreign trade organizations of the former USSR in the amount of 4 billion dollars, formed before 1991, and is settled within the framework of the London Club.

The essence of the agreement is the write-off of 36.5 percent of debts with the subsequent re-registration of the debt into Eurobonds. During the debt restructuring, bonds totaling $2.5 billion will be issued. Moreover, the verified portion of the debt will be converted into bonds as early as 2001.

Thus, Russia's external debt was reduced by $1.5 billion. Sergei Kolotukhin notes that the terms of the exchange of the Eurobond issue will reduce the cost of servicing and repaying external debt by another 400 million dollars.

According to experts, the London Club agreed to partial debt write-off due to the fact that the transfer of debt from non-existent foreign trade organizations of the former USSR to the state level means an increase in the “quality” of debt.