The 1-month grace period on Russia’s two Eurobond coupons expired on Sunday.

Russia defaulted on a debt payment for the first time since 1918. The country’s two Eurobond coupon payments of approximately $100 million with a maturity of 27 May expired, and default of one month was declared for these payments. Thus, Russia, which avoided default for months with different solutions in an environment where foreign currency payments were limited after the invasion of Ukraine, finally fell into default.

While Russia did not accept the declaration of default, it stated that it had sufficient funds to make the payment. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov described the default as a ‘comedy.’

Russian Finance Minister Siluanov had previously stated that Eurobond bondholders would need to open foreign currency and ruble accounts to receive their payments. Siluanov stated that the payment infrastructure of the West would be bypassed with the new system, and the Moscow government would make foreign debt payments in rubles.