Russia Faces New Urgency to Dodge Default, Avoid Wall Street
- Derivatives panel finds potential default on ruble repayment
- Workarounds circumvent banks made de facto sanctions enforcers
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Russia’s race to avoid default just escalated.
The country has been inching closer after JPMorgan Chase & Co., under orders from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, halted interest payments the country owed on two dollar-denominated bonds in recent weeks. The move forced the Russian central bank to make the payments in rubles instead and left it scrambling for ways to sidestep JPMorgan and rival Citigroup Inc. to make good on its debt.