Putin Says Russia Has Offered to Restructure Ukrainian Debt

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Russia is ready to restructure Ukraine’s $3 billion debt, President Vladimir Putin said.

Russia is prepared to take $1 billion per year from 2016 through 2018 from Ukraine, and to defer any payment this year, Putin told reporters at a news conference at the G-20 summit in Antalya, Turkey, on Monday. Russia proposed “better” terms for restructuring to Ukraine than the International Monetary Fund was seeking, Putin said.

The proposal comes after months of Russian refusal to participate in restructuring talks over Ukraine’s debt, which comes due in December. Russia said the $3 billion bond is sovereign debt and not subject to the same restructuring talks as those Ukraine conducted with commercial lenders. Russia purchased the bonds in 2013 as part of a promised $15 billion in aid after Ukraine’s then-president Viktor Yanukovych rejected an association agreement with the European Union in favor of closer ties with its neighbor to the east.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-16/putin-says-russia-has-offered-to-restructure-ukrainian-debt

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1. Black Sea region cuts winter grain area, Ukraine sees smaller harvest

Nov 16 Russia and Ukraine, the leading wheat producers in the Black Sea region, have cut their 2016 winter wheat sowing area due to dry weather, analysts and traders said, signalling more risks of next year's crop and exports.

The two countries combined are expected to export 38.5 million tonnes of wheat this 2015/16 marketing season, accounting for almost a quarter of the world's wheat trade, according to a USDA forecast.

Excessively dry weather in eastern, central and southern Ukraine has prompted farmers to terminate winter sowing, leaving around 11 percent of the area unsown, agriculture ministry data showed.

"The sowing is completed and the situation is very bad. We still have four huge regions where crops are in a very poor condition," Tetyana Adamenko, head of the agriculture department at Ukraine's state weather centre, told Reuters.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/16/grains-blacksea-harvest-idUSL8N13B1J420151116?rpc=401

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2. Putin, Merkel discuss anti-terrorism fight, Ukraine in detailed and constructive way - Peskov

The anti-terrorism fight and the Ukraine situation were subjects of the detailed discussion between Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel in Antalya early on Monday morning, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov has said.

"The conversation was rather specific. The fight against terrorism and Ukraine were the subjects given very profound and constructive consideration," Peskov told reporters.

He also said that Putin and Merkel "had a rather profound exch

http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/304283.html

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3. Russia Makes Proposal to International Monetary Fund on Kiev's $3-Billion Debt to Moscow

Antalya: Russia has made a proposal to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over its $3-billion debt dispute with Ukraine, the country's finance minister said at the G20 Summit today.

"Russia has presented a proposal concerning Ukraine's reimbursement of its $3-billion Russian debt," Russian state news agencies quoted finance minister Anton Siluanov as saying at the meeting in Antalya.

Siluanov described the offer as "interesting" and said it could "serve as a basis to solve the problem" but declined to elaborate on the details.

Moscow has insisted that Ukraine repay by December the $3 billion it issued to Russian-backed president Viktor Yanukovych ahead of pro-European protests that led to his ouster in February 2014.

http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/russia-makes-proposal-to-international-monetary-fund-on-kievs-3-billion-debt-to-moscow-finance-minis-1243972

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