Von der Leyen warned of imminent Russian default due to Western sanctions

The HEAD of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leinen, stressed that the EXPORT of goods to RUSSIA collapsed by 70%,and default is "a matter of time" Ursula von der Leinen

Western sanctions are increasingly affecting the stability of the Russian economy, and default is only a "matter of time." This was stated in an interview with Bild by the President of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen.

The politician noted that, according to forecasts, GDP in Russia will decrease by 11%, as hundreds of large companies and experts left the country. In addition, the interlocutor of the publication called the state bankruptcy of the country "a matter of time."

“Sanctions week after week are eating deeper into the Russian economy: the export of goods to Russia has collapsed by 70%,” the head of the EC emphasized.

Moody's predicted Russia's default if dollars are not paid to investors by May 4 Economics

Since the end of February, Western countries, including the US and the EU, have already tightened sanctions against Russia several times. Restrictions also affected financial institutions and about half of the international reserves of the Central Bank. Washington banned Russia from using its frozen DOLLAR reserves to pay off its external debt starting April 4.

Because of this, the Russian Ministry of Finance delayed payments on at least two issues of Eurobonds. Earlier, RBC wrote that the Ministry of Finance had been paying off interest on Eurobonds since mid-March, using the dollar reserves of the Central Bank, although they had been blocked since February 28 due to sanctions.

On April 6, the Russian Ministry of Finance announced that Russia had made payments on the dollar issues Russia-2022 and Russia-2042 in rubles for the first time, as a foreign correspondent bank refused to accept the ministry's payment for government bonds in dollars.

Pro You need to lower your payroll. How to do it legally Instructions Pro Anti-crisis measures for business: if this is not done Articles Pro The company has suspended business in Russia. What to prepare for its DIRECTOR Articles

After that, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the United States was purposefully trying to make Russia have to choose between default and spending the remaining foreign exchange reserves. She argued that the Russian economy, under the influence of sanctions, is on the verge of collapse.

See also New sanctions against Russia 06:39

At the same time, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed out that there were no grounds for a real default by Russia, since the country had the means to pay its debts. “Theoretically, of course, some kind of default situation can be organized, but this is a purely artificial situation,” he noted.

On April 11, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that Russia would go to COURT if Western countries tried to default on its Eurobond obligations.