MOSCOW, June 10 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will announce a second tranche of repayment of Soviet-era commercial debt in one month's time, the country's finance minister said Saturday.
"I think this will happen in a month's time," Alexei Kudrin told a news conference after a G8 finance ministers' meeting in St. Petersburg.
The commercial debt of the former U.S.S.R. emerged as a result of exportation of goods and services by foreign companies, and has been estimated at $1.7 billion by Russia's Finance Ministry.
In December 2002, the ministry exchanged the first tranche of Soviet commercial debt for Russian Eurobonds. The U.S.S.R.'s creditors were allowed to participate in the exchange, to the sum of $1.28 billion. After the exchange, the total Eurobond issue was worth $1.374 billion.
