MOSCOW, December 19 (RIA Novosti) – President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that a multibillion dollar financial assistance package agreed with Ukraine earlier this week was a loan, and that he expects the money to be returned.
The $15 billion loan to Ukraine is “repayable money,” Putin told reporters at his annual marathon press conference in Moscow. “It will be listed on the Irish stock exchange, according to English law. It is, therefore, protected and I don’t see any waste.”
Anticipating what could be a backlash over the bailout package as Russia braces itself for years of relative austerity amid a slowing economy, Putin described the loan as assistance to a “brother country.”
“If we really say that [the Ukrainian people] are a brother people, and a brother country, then we are obliged to conduct ourselves as a close relative and help the Ukrainian people in this difficult situation,” said Putin.
Putin described investment in Ukrainian bonds is almost as risky as investing in US bonds.
The financial package for Ukraine was announced Tuesday during a visit by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to Moscow and comes amid ongoing street protests in Kiev over Yanukovych’s decision to back away from a series of free trade and association agreements with the European Union.
Putin also stressed that assistance for Ukraine was not linked to demonstrations in Ukraine, or the current Ukrainian government.
“We took this decision… not in the interests of the current leadership [of Ukraine] but of the Ukrainian people.”
Ongoing political uncertainty in Kiev has put the country's economy and credit rating under pressure. The cost of insuring Ukraine's debt is only exceeded by Venezuela and Argentina, according to Bloomberg.
As well as the $15 billion loan, Putin also announced Tuesday that Russia will sell natural gas to Ukraine’s Naftogaz energy company for $268.5 per 1,000 cubic meters, a significant discount on the current price of more than $400.
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