Free Republic

LONDON- The economic cost of Russia's assault on Ukraine was fully exposed on Wednesday as Vladimir Putin's sanctions-ravaged government teetered on the brink of its first international debt default since the Bolshevik revolution. Moscow was due to pay $117 million in interest on two dollar-denominated sovereign bonds it had sold back in 2013. But the limits it now faces making payments, and talk from the Kremlin that it might pay in roubles - triggering a default anyway - meant even veteran investors were left guessing at what might happen. One described it as the most closely watched government debt payment...

Russia is due to make two interest payments on its dollar bonds on Wednesday, but it is unclear whether western investors will actually receive their cash, potentially lining up a uniquely messy government debt default. Russia’s first default since 1998, and its first default on foreign-currency debt since the Russian Revolution, would complete a staggering turnround. Before it invaded Ukraine, Russia was considered one of the most creditworthy countries in the world, with its low debt levels and vast oil and gas exports. But unprecedented western sanctions aimed at cutting off Russia from the global financial system have sent the...

The Russian Finance Ministry said on Monday it has sent an order to a correspondent bank for the payment of coupons on eurobonds amounting to $117.2 million, a signal to markets waiting to see whether Russia will default on its sovereign debt. The eurobonds in question, maturing in 2023 and 2043, were both last trading at 20 cents on the dollar or lower and are among the first to have scheduled payments after Russia was hit by sanctions related to its invasion of Ukraine. The restrictions meant it was unclear whether Russia would be able, or willing, to make the...

Confiscating the assets of companies that have fled Russia since the invasion of Ukraine would shatter investor confidence for decades and take Russia back to the calamitous days of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, metals magnate Vladimir Potanin has said. Potanin, president and biggest shareholder of Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest producer of palladium and refined nickel, said Russia should respond with pragmatism to its exclusion from swathes of the global economy. "We should not try to 'slam the door' but endeavour to preserve Russia's economic position in those markets which we spent so long cultivating," Potanin, 61, said on the...

Russia is continuing to suffer high-profile military losses, with a GRU military intelligence spy the latest killed in Putin's stalling invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin has so far seen the loss of 12 commanders including three key generals, and military experts have slammed their bizarre tactics. Captain Alexey Glushchak, 31, from Tyumen in Siberia, is the latest major casualty after he was killed in the carnage in Mariupol, but the Russians have given no details of how he was killed. Russia said in a statement following Glushchak's death: 'Due to the strict secrecy of the military operation, the circumstances of...

Russian President Vladimir Putin's “bloated” appearance could be the side effect of him taking steroids for treatment for cancer, spies have claimed. Senior figures from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States believe there is a physiological explanation for his invasion of Ukraine, it is reported. Citing sources close to the Kremlin, they are investigating reports that 69-year-old Putin’s “increasingly erratic behaviour” combined with a bloated appearance point to drug use. They are advancing theories that he may be suffering from cancer and the medical treatment he is receiving has altered the balance of his mind....

Vladimir Putin is suffering from a brain disorder caused by dementia, Parkinson’s disease or ‘roid rage’ resulting from steroid treatment for cancer, intelligence sources have claimed. Citing sources close to the Kremlin, senior figures in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance – comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States – believe there is a physiological explanation for the Russian president’s globally reviled decision to invade Ukraine. The intelligence community is sharing a growing number of reports about 69-year-old Putin’s ‘increasingly erratic behaviour’, combined with a bloated appearance in recent footage – and the absurd distance he...

A Russian attack helicopter makes a menacing low pass over a rural village in Ukraine, its gunship fully equipped with missiles and machine guns. But, unknown to the crew of the state-of-the-art Mi-24 Hind aircraft, Ukrainian soldiers are waiting unseen in the line of trees below. -snip- Their deaths came on a day when Russian aerial forces lost as many as eight aircraft, as well as multi-role, strike and close air support aircraft and a drone. Their losses, claimed by Ukrainian military sources, provide further evidence of Russia's failure to gain air superiority – a tactical advantage that Vladimir Putin...