Credit ratings agency Fitch said on Tuesday that Russia would be in default if it doesn’t pay in US dollars the coupon payments that are due on 16 March on its dollar debt within a 30-day grace period.
These are the first foreign-currency sovereign coupons due since the Presidential Decree of 5 March set out a differential treatment of external debt payments to creditors in countries that had joined sanctions against Russia, including their payment in rubles.
Fitch’s latest release also mentioned Russia’s "failure to credit non-resident investors" with the coupons for Russian local-currency government bonds, known as OFZs, which were due on March 2.
Earlier this month, Fitch has downgraded Russia's credit ratings by six notches to 'C', near the bottom of its scale. While Moody's has downgraded Russia's long-term issuer (local- and foreign-currency) and senior unsecured (local- and foreign-currency) debt ratings to Ca from B3, with a negative outlook.
