Russia says no IMF aid for Ukraine unless it pays its debt

MOSCOW – Russia says it won’t support a much-needed International Monetary Fund aid package for Ukraine unless it stipulates a debt repayment to Russia.

Ukraine says it will not return $3 billion to Russia that a previous government borrowed in 2013 because Moscow refuses to agree to terms already accepted by other international creditors. Russia insists this was a sovereign debt that should not be covered by terms offered to commercial lenders.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told state-owned television Tuesday that Moscow would insist that the $3 billion debt repayment be stipulated in the new aid package for Ukraine – or Russia will veto it.

Ukraine’s crumbling economy, which was also weighed on by a separatist war in the east, relies on a $17.5-billion bailout from the IMF.