Confirms Coupon Payment to NSD on 2027, 2047 Eurobonds

• Wires cite the Russian finance ministry as confirming that Russia have paid coupons on 2027, 2047 Eurobonds to the NSD, and now considers the payments to be 'fulfilled'.
• The payments are being made under a new scheme, following the decree signed yesterday by Putin, which allows for temporary procedures for fulfilling Russia's foreign debt obligations. This would allow Russia to continue to argue that they're fulfilling their foreign debt obligations after the failure of the US to renew General Licence 9A (preventing Russia from making FX payments to investors) some weeks ago.

The measures include:

• Allowing the use of “substitute” bonds to repay Eurobonds, while also cancelling the cross-default provision on bonds (meaning default on one line of bonds won’t necessarily trigger a broader default condition).
• Allowing Russia will pay RUB on its Eurobond obligations that can be later converted into FX at the exchange rate on the day of payment.