Russia: Kiev is provoking a Ukrainian debt default says FM Lavrov

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine of provoking its own debt default during his address at 'Government Hour' in the Kremlin, Moscow, Wednesday. Lavrov referred to a bill that has been passed by the Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday, granting the government the authority to suspend foreign debt payments. The bill states that $3 billion (€2.67 billion) in Ukrainian Eurobounds, purchased by Russia in 2013, are included on the list of liabilities subject to a possible payment moratorium. "The civilised world knows who they are dealing with", Lavrov said, adding that the Ukrainian government has failed to keep their promises on many occasions including after the negotiations in Minsk and in the Normandy format. "The tragedy is that although the civilised world sees that, they seem to have agreed on not critisising the Kiev authorities in public", Lavrov concluded.