Russia plans legal action as S&P says it's defaulted on its foreign debt

Russia has defaulted on its foreign debt because it offered bondholders payments in rubles, not dollars, ratings agency S&P has said.

Russia attempted to pay in rubles for two dollar-denominated bonds that matured on April 4, S&P said in a note on Friday. The agency said this amounted to a “selective default” because investors are unlikely to be able to convert the rubles into “dollars equivalent to the originally due amounts.” Russia is now planning legal action.

“We will sue, because we undertook all necessary action so that investors would receive their payments,” Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said. 

Russia strikes Europe-supplied S-300 missiles

Russia said on Monday that it had used cruise missiles to destroy S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems which had been supplied to Ukraine by an unidentified European country.

Ruble falls sharply

The Russian ruble has weakened sharply after the country’s central bank decided to relax some of the temporary capital control measures aimed at limiting a drop in the currency.

War to shrink Ukraine economy 45%, says World Bank

The World Bank has said that Ukraine’s economy will shrink by 45.1 per cent this year because of Russia’s invasion, which has shut down half of the country’s businesses, choked off imports and exports, and damaged a vast amount of critical infrastructure.

SocGen sells unit of  Rosbank 

French bank Societe Generale said it would quit Russia and take a 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) income hit from selling its Rosbank unit to Interros Capital, a firm linked to Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin. 

Ukraine pushes allies to sell  Russian assets worth $1 Trillion

Ukraine is pushing allied countries to seize and sell Russian assets including oil tankers, so that the proceeds can be used to pay for the rebuilding of destroyed cities.  Ukraine has suffered more than $1 trillion in physical damage.

Russian oil embargo could be part of next EU curbs

The European Union's executive is drafting proposals for an EU oil embargo on Russia, the foreign ministers of Ireland, Lithuania and the Netherlands said, although there was no agreement to ban Russian crude. Many of the ministers meeting in Luxembourg showed support for sanctions on Russian oil imports, the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said.