Emily
Editor, Senior Moderator
40 billion doesn't seem like a huge debt except for affected bondholders. US is pledging that much in lethal aid to Ukraine. If it is actually significant, it's hard to imagine a default wouldn't trigger some sort of domino effect in the financial world, since it is more interconnected than during the Bolshevik days. Of course, we might be headed back to the Bolshevik days here in the US if gas, utilities and food don't settle back down to reasonable prices soon.
https://english.alarabiya.net/featu...-bond-default-for-first-time-since-Bolsheviks
Explainer: Russia walks the plank to bond default for first time since Bolsheviks
Russia’s failure to send an interest payment to creditors is triggering a payout on debt insurance, taking the country another step closer to its first default on international bonds since the Bolshevik revolution more than a century ago.
...
Why is Russia not paying debt?
Defaulting nations are usually bankrupt or unwilling to pay. Russia, though, has hundreds of billions of dollars, and earns billions more weekly from oil and gas sales.
So the circa $40 billion of foreign bonds outstanding -- with around $2 billion in payments due by year-end -- should be easily manageable.
Moscow also wants to pay, to avoid getting lumped in with the poor and chaotically governed nations which typically default.
But a welter of sanctions by the United States and the European Union prevent it from sending money through the global payments system. An exemption that allowed US owners of Russian sovereign bonds to receive payments has now expired.
That is pushing Russia towards default by blocking the path by which payments would reach bondholders’ bank accounts...
https://english.alarabiya.net/featu...-bond-default-for-first-time-since-Bolsheviks
Explainer: Russia walks the plank to bond default for first time since Bolsheviks
Russia’s failure to send an interest payment to creditors is triggering a payout on debt insurance, taking the country another step closer to its first default on international bonds since the Bolshevik revolution more than a century ago.
...
Why is Russia not paying debt?
Defaulting nations are usually bankrupt or unwilling to pay. Russia, though, has hundreds of billions of dollars, and earns billions more weekly from oil and gas sales.
So the circa $40 billion of foreign bonds outstanding -- with around $2 billion in payments due by year-end -- should be easily manageable.
Moscow also wants to pay, to avoid getting lumped in with the poor and chaotically governed nations which typically default.
But a welter of sanctions by the United States and the European Union prevent it from sending money through the global payments system. An exemption that allowed US owners of Russian sovereign bonds to receive payments has now expired.
That is pushing Russia towards default by blocking the path by which payments would reach bondholders’ bank accounts...
