Russia committed to second aid tranche to Ukraine - minister
8 February 2014, 16:56
Russia will stick to its pledge to give Ukraine a second tranche of a $15-billion loan, but has not yet allocated the sum as it waits for repayment of a $2.7 billion gas debt, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Saturday.
'We will fulfil what we have promised to Ukraine, but we would like the Ukrainian side to comply with the obligations that it has committed to,' Siluanov told reporters.
He explained he was referring to a restructured debt with the payment deadline of January 25.
He said Russia had assured Ukraine it would provide the latter with what it had promised to, but that 'we would like the commitments that have been made on the Ukrainian side to be met without delay too.'
'We didn't link our tranches to the fulfillment of the commitments concerning payments for gas [under an agreement] between Naftogaz and Gazprom [MOEX: GAZP], but, nevertheless, they are state organizations, and naturally we always make agreements to meet our commitments both at interstate level and between state companies,' Siluanov said.
'Payments for this year, as far as I know, are going according to schedule,' he said. Under an agreement of December last year, Russia pledged to slash its gas price for Ukraine and lend it $15 billion.
Late in January, acting Ukrainian prime minister Serhiy Arbuzov said: 'We have already received the first tranche of $3 billion and expect to receive the second tranche of $2 billion shortly.
Voice of Russia, Reuters, Interfax
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