The decision should help ease some of the tensions building between the two neighbors throughout Ukraine's 14-month separatist revolt that Kiev accuses Moscow of staging, a charge Russia denies.
But the Western-backed Kiev leadership also warned its various lenders that it may stop making interest payments should they fail to accept painful debt restructuring terms within a matter of weeks.
"Two days ago, we paid $39 million (34 million euros) for (US-held) Eurobonds, and we will also pay $75 million to cover the so-called Russian bonds," Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko told reporters.
Her office quickly stressed in a separate statement that a faster-than-feared economic implosion left Kiev with no alternative but to freeze its payments "unless a negotiated solution is found in the weeks to come."
Ukraine is working hard to find a way to plug a $15.3-billion budget hole over the coming four years. Moscow refused to negotiate and still expects the bond's principal returned when it matures by year-end.
Russia had warned it would ask the International Court of Justice in The Hague to declare Ukraine in default if it failed to make a scheduled $75-million interest payment on Saturday.
Jaresko said the money would be delivered on Monday because banks remained closed over the weekend.
The coupon covers a $3-billion Eurobond that Moscow purchased from Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych's government in the wake of his December 2013 decision to ditch a landmark EU alliance and preserve closer ties with Russia.-
AFP
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Ukraine Pledges to Pay Loan Back for Russia despite Threats
20/6/15
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