The rating agency Moody's has determined that Russia has defaulted on the payment of interest on bonds that was not paid on time.

Also on Tuesday, Taiwan's financial regulator said seven Taiwanese insurers had not received interest payments on Russian government bonds after a grace period had expired.

As the FAZ reported, a 30-day period ended on Monday during which Russia would have had to pay interest of 100 million dollars on two bonds.

This amount would have been due on May 27th.

After that, the debtor has 30 days to transfer the outstanding amount to the creditors.

Markus Fruehauf

Editor in Business.

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Russia points to its ability to service its debt.

But the sanctions in the financial sector after the war of aggression against Ukraine have decoupled Russia from the international financial markets.

The outstanding amounts for foreign currency bonds can no longer be transferred to foreign investors in dollars or euros.

The default by Russia is therefore due to the sanctions, but not to over-indebtedness.

The fact that Moscow's payments were blocked because of sanctions is "not our problem," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday.

On Tuesday, Peskow was surprised that the Moody's agency was even commenting on his country's financial situation: "If we understand it correctly, they refused to rate our country.

Does that mean Moody's has resumed the rating process?” he asked.

"The agency should probably explain that to us."

The determination of a state bankruptcy is usually a case for the rating agencies.

The three major credit rating agencies, which include Moody's, are paid by governments and lenders to assess borrowers' creditworthiness.

In the case of Russia, however, they are effectively left out as European Union sanctions prohibit them from assessing the country's financial situation.

However, the determination of Russia's default should not violate the sanctions, which are ultimately aimed at isolating the Kremlin.

In view of the well-known problems caused by the sanctions, the default comes as no surprise.