KIEV (Sputnik) — Moscow and Kiev have been in a legal battle over Ukraine’s refusal to repay the Eurobond's $3-billion principal and unpaid $75-million December 2015 coupon, as well as interest starting from December 20, 2015, which was the bond's maturity date.
"The Finance Ministry is working on an agreement on this foreign debt with creditors that will help it fulfill the goal of debt restructuring under the Ukraine-IMF cooperation program ‘Extended Funds Facility’," the ministry’s statement read.
The Ukrainian finance authority added that if lenders agreed to restructure billions of Ukraine’s external debt it would lift the moratorium on the debt repayment to Russia that was imposed in December 2015. On Tuesday, the Ukrainian parliament agreed to make it an open-ended restriction.
Russia has emphasized that Ukraine's failure to pay back the debt by the December 20 deadline should be classified as a default.