- Nice hand 'ashamed' Saint-Etienne 8-0 Ligue 1 mauling
- Boeing CEO says ending strike 'a top priority'
- Stock markets mostly fall after Fed-fueled rally
- Harris slams Trump for hypocrisy on abortion as US starts voting
- Academy to host first overseas ceremony to honor young filmmakers
- No doctor necessary: US okays nasal spray flu vaccine for self-use
- Gurbaz, birthday boy Rashid lead Afghanistan to 177-run rout of South Africa
- Former delivery man Baldwin leads star names at PGA Championship
- Trump shooting: Secret Service admits complacency
- Can an ambitious Milei make Argentina an AI giant?
- Haiti, its suffering growing, in 'race against time': UN expert
- Ibrahim Aqil, the Hezbollah elite unit commander wanted by the US
- Chinese forward Cui signs NBA contract with Brooklyn Nets
- US Fed dissenter calls for 'measured' pace of rate cuts
- Guardiola tells players to lead change over workload as Kompany demands cap on games
- Norway limits wild salmon fishing as stocks hit new lows
- Top Hezbollah commander killed in Israeli strike on Beirut
- Rotterdam fatal knife attacker suspected of 'terrorist motive'
- First early votes cast in knife-edge US presidential election
- Top-ranked Swiatek out of Beijing due to 'personal matters'
- Hard-right Reform UK looks to the future after vote success
- Embiid agrees to NBA contract extension with 76ers
- Joshua aims to complete road to redemption in Dubois bout
- World champion Bagnaia sets pace with lap record at Misano
- Biden says 'working' to get people back to homes on Israel-Lebanon border
- Pope criticises Argentina's crackdown on protesters
- Court limits screenings of videos in France mass rape case
- Gurbaz century takes Afghanistan to 311-4 in 2nd ODI
- Central banks face 'difficult balancing act': IMF chief
- McLaren's Norris sets Singapore pace as struggling Verstappen 15th
- Guardiola tells players to lead change over workload fears
- Paris Olympics sports equipment moves to new homes
- 'Happy' Kinghorn relishing life at Toulouse
- Norris sets Singapore pace as Verstappen only 15th
- 8 dead in Israeli strike, source says Hezbollah commander killed
- Germany to bid to host women's Euro 2029
- Portugal brings deadly forest fires under control
- Postecoglou defends Solanke after slow start to Spurs career
- US nuclear plant Three Mile Island to reopen to power Microsoft
- Arteta urges Arsenal to take next step in Man City showdown
- Stock markets fall after Fed-fuelled rally
- Top Hezbollah commander 'killed' in Israel strike
- Poland charges Russian over attack on Navalny ally: prosecutors
- Man City have rest 'advantage' in Arsenal showdown: Guardiola
- Maresca has 'no doubt' in Jackson as Chelsea's number nine
- EU chief announces 35 bn euro loan plan for Ukraine before winter
- From TikTok to Hollywood, the irresistible rise of Italy's Khaby Lame
- Verstappen punished for swearing in Singapore press conference
- Sri Lanka lead by 202 in first New Zealand Test
- Brook 'not too fussed' by England's batting in heavy Australia loss
Moscow says it made debt interest payment, avoiding default
Russia announced Thursday that it paid interest on foreign debt due this week, avoiding a devastating default for now after it was hit by unprecedented Western sanctions over Ukraine.
The country had risked its first foreign debt default in more than a century if it had missed the payment on two-dollar denominated bonds.
But the finance ministry said in a statement that a payment order worth $117.2 million "was executed" after it was sent to a bank on Monday.
There had been concerns that the sanctions would prevent Moscow from accessing dollars to make the payment, causing a default if it used rubles instead.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia has "all the necessary means" to avoid a default.
"Any default that could arise would be purely artificial in nature," Peskov told reporters.
Finance Minister Anton Siluanov accused the West earlier this week of pushing the country towards an "artificial default".
Western sanctions have crippled the Russian banking sector and financial system and precipitated a collapse of the ruble.
Ratings agency Fitch warned last week that Russia faced "imminent" default.
Russia last defaulted on foreign currency-held debt in 1918, when Bolshevik revolution leader Vladimir Lenin refused to recognise the debts of the deposed tsar's regime.
Russia defaulted on domestic, ruble-denominated debt in 1998.
- 'No issues servicing debt' -
Sanctions over Russia's operation in Ukraine have targeted $300 billion of its foreign currency reserves held abroad.
Without access to these funds, concern has mounted that Russia could find itself forced to default.
Siluanov had warned earlier this week that the debt may be paid in rubles if necessary even though the interest payments due this week had to be made in dollars.
Russia's government said Thursday that the payment was made in a foreign currency, without specifying which.
"The payment was carried out in foreign currency. There are no issues with servicing the state debt," the cabinet said on Telegram.
The finance ministry added that it will provide "additional information" on the crediting of the funds. Russia previously said it had asked an American bank to process the payments.
A payment in rubles would constitute a default at the end of a 30-day grace period, according to Fitch Ratings.
But analysts at investment firm JPMorgan said US sanctions should not restrict Russia's ability to service its debt.
The US Treasury also said interest payments to American entities were "permissible through May 25".
Russia faces more debt payments this month.
And Fitch Ratings warned this week that it understands that foreign investors did not receive interest payments on domestic bonds due on March 2 because of restrictions imposed by the central bank.
"This will constitute a default if not cured within 30 days of the payments falling due," said the debt ratings agency.
P.Anderson--BTB