Russia’s Finance Ministry accused foreign countries of forcing Russia into an ‘artificial default’ via unusual sanctions over Ukraine and said it would meet its debt duties. “The freezing of foreign currency accounts of the Bank of Russia and the Russian government can be considered as a desire of foreign countries to organise an artificial default that has no real economic grounds,” Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said in a statement.

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Rating agency Fitch last week devalued Russia’s sovereign debt rating into junk territory, warning that the decision shows the view that a default is imminent. But Siluanov declined that Russia cannot meet the obligations of its government debt. He said Russia is ready to make payments in rubles according to the exchange rate of Russia’s central bank on the day of the amount. Sanctions on Moscow over its attack in Ukraine had an unusual blow to Russia’s banking and financial system, with a large part of its foreign currency reserving frozen.