Russia agrees to restructure Venezuela’s $3 billion debt

MOSCOW – Russia has agreed with Venezuela on terms of restructuring a total of $3 billion of the South American country’s debt to Moscow, including a postponement of debt repayment.

“We are ready to make a two-stage postponement. The first part includes pretty favorable terms with a small sum due for repayment so that it’s manageable for our Venezuelan colleagues,” Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters on Friday.

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“Venezuela asked us to restructure the debt and now we are analyzing the conditions for that purpose, which is why we already determine those conditions in the Ministry of Finance,” the minister added.

“The bigger part of the debt is put off until the second stage of repayment,” Siluanov said. He declined to elaborate on the dates and terms of the dent restructuring deal.

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The minister made such remarks during a meeting of finance ministers of the Group of 20 in Washington, whose policy of blocking payment accounts made it very difficult for foreign currency to enter Venezuela.

Venezuelan Ambassador Carlos Rafael Faria Tortosa was cited by the RIA news agency as saying earlier on Friday that Moscow and Caracas may ink the debt restructuring deal on Nov. 23-24.