Brussels, 08/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - Vladimir Putin, speaking in Hanover, Germany, after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday 8 April 2013, said that Russia would be restructuring the €2.5 billion loan it granted Cyprus in 2011. He didn't give any details, but Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said around 10% of the debt would be written off.
A Cypriot source said, however, that no official arrangements had been made, although a raft of announcements had been made in recent weeks. After slamming the first bailout drawn up by the eurozone, which included raids of savings in Cypriots banks (many held by Russians), Moscow now says that most of the Russian interests have been protected in the second version of the Cypriot bailout.
Putin said: “We assume that it's a unique case, that such means of exiting the crisis in problem areas of the euro region won't be used again”. The problems began when the head of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, talked of the Cypriot bailout as a model for other bank crises. He later withdrew his comments.
On Friday, Putin said he was delighted that the Cypriot affairs had shown the ineffectiveness and instability of savings in Western banks. He was speaking on German television station ARD and hoped that people who had lost their savings would bank with Russian banks in future.
Nicosia says it will need €75 million by the end of the month to pay retirement pensions and civil servants' pay. The government says everything will be done to avoid pay and pensions being paid late. (EL/transl.fl)