IMF May Need to Convene Separate Board of Directors on Ukraine Debt

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in case of Russia’s demands to drop the assistance program to Ukraine due to the default on debt, will possibly need to gather a separate board of directors to consider the bona fide behaviour of the debtor and the creditor, a source in the organization said Friday.

"If the creditor says he doesn’t agree to the continuation of the program, in other words, demands to suspend it, a mechanism stipulated by new rules enters into force. Before the meeting on the continuation of the aid program to Ukraine, another meeting of the board, which discusses the integrity of the borrower and the lender, is convened," the source told RIA Novosti.

A $3-billion debt in Eurobonds to Moscow, which was secured in 2013 by the government of then-President Viktor Yanukovych, matured on December 20, 2015.

The Russian Finance Ministry announced on December 31 that Ukraine had defaulted as it had missed the 10-day deadline to repay the debt.

Moscow disagrees with Kiev's stance that the bond is part of an external commercial debt, arguing that the bond is a loan provided by one country to another.