President Vladimir Putin wrapped up a visit by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder with a pledge that Russia would pay its foreign debts, but signalled that Moscow wanted more time to settle. "Russia intends to and will honour its financial obligations said Putin at Moscow's Vnukovo-2 airport.
"No one in the world has an interest in placing Russia's economy in a situation where it will not be able to honour its international obligations," he added. Mr Schroeder said he and Putin had discussed plans to convert part of the $48 billion Paris Club debt Russia inherited from the Soviet Union into stakes in Russian businesses. The two sides would discuss the issue further in meetings later this month, Schroeder said.
The debt issue had threatened to cast a shadow over the visit after a senior Russian minister said Moscow planned to skip repayment of some $1.5 billion it owes the Paris Club of sovereign creditors in the first quarter of 2001. Angry finance officials in Germany, Russia's largest creditor, responded that a buoyant economy and high world prices for Russia's main exports, oil and other commodities, meant Moscow could afford to pay its bills.
At Sunday's airport news conference Putin said he and Schroeder had discussed Russia's relations with the European Union and condemned the use of force in the Balkans and Europe. "It was very important for me to learn and hear, personally, from one of Europe's leaders, how Germany sees the development of relations between the European Union and Russia, between Russia and Germany," he said in televised remarks. "The use of force in Yugoslavia, and anywhere in Europe in the 20th and the 21st century, is absolutely unacceptable," he said.
