Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree introducing a new temporary procedure for the fulfillment of obligations under the foreign currency debt of Russia.

Payments will be made in rubles.

The National Settlement Depository (NSD), against which sanctions were previously imposed, will open ruble "I" accounts in the name of foreign depositories for payments to holders of Russian Eurobonds. The procedure for determining the amount will be established by the Russian Ministry of Finance.

The Russian authorities will consider the obligations on Eurobonds fulfilled if the payments are made in rubles in the amount "equivalent to the value of obligations in foreign currency and calculated at the rate of foreign currency, formed in the domestic currency market of Russia on the day when Russia made the payment to the central depositary".

At the beginning of June the European Union imposed sanctions against NSD. The Russian Central Securities Depository described the situation as an emergency. In fact, the EU only legitimized the actions of the European depositories Euroclear and Clearstream, which stopped all transactions with NSD back in March, Kommersant reported.