MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The United States, as well as other Western states are currently preparing to reform the current IMF lending-into-arrears policy, which would prevent a stoppage of IMF aid to Ukraine if the country defaults on its loan from Russian.
"This is a risky proposition. It is necessary to change, bend these rules for the sake of Ukraine, as beyond Ukraine a long, long line of countries from different continents requiring the same things will line up," Vladimir Chizhov told Rossiya-24 TV channel.
According to the IMF arrears policy, countries borrowing from the fund continue to receive loans even if they miss payments to commercial creditors. But if a payment to a sovereign creditor (such as Russia) is missed, the borrower cannot receive additional IMF aid.
Russia issued a $15-billion loan to Ukraine in December, 2013, having bought $3 billion-worth of Ukraine's Eurobonds. The rest of the loan was canceled following a regime change that took place in Ukraine in February, 2014.
Russia maintains that Ukraine must repay its debt in full by the end of 2015.
