A lifeline for Ukraine from the IMF

On 8 December 2015 the International Monetary Fund made changes to its longstanding policy, allowing the implementation of bailout programs for countries that are behind with their debt repayments of other countries, which had previously been forbidden. This decision allowed the IMF to continue its programme of support for Ukraine, which has refused to repay the US$3 billion debt to Russia (the deadline for which expired on 20 December) it incurred in December 2013. Both parties were in dispute concerning the nature of the debt, which Russia regarded as an official loan and Ukraine as a commercial loan. Although it was de facto a sovereign debt, Kyiv maintained that formally it was a private loan, and that the creditor was the Russian National Wealth Fund. On 16 December 2015, the IMF ruled on this debt as an official.