The UK’s defence ministry made the assessment in its latest intelligence briefing about the war in Ukraine, published on Twitter on Wednesday.
It noted that Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on March 28 said that a move to issuing some of Russia’s sovereign debt in foreign currencies was "under development."
The British defence ministry said the move indicated that "Russia anticipates external financial support from foreign states it deems friendly.”
"Once the development is completed, investors from other countries will be able to purchase Russia’s sovereign debt and therefore finance some of Russia’s future budget shortfalls,” the intelligence update said.
It added: “Such investors would be indirectly financing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
The British analysts noted that “in recent months, Russia’s own banks have been the main entities purchasing Russian state debt,” adding that “they are unlikely to have the capacity to fully fund anticipated future budget deficits.”
The UK defence ministry assessed that “Russian officials likely see external debt issuance as one way to plug gaps in Russia’s finances as they plan for a long war in Ukraine.”
“However, it remains unclear whether Russia will succeed in implementing the measures,” the British defence ministry wrote.
Ukraine hopes to receive further USD 1.8 bn from IMF in 2023: officials
Meanwhile, Ukraine hopes to receive two more tranches worth USD 1.8 billion from the International Monetary Fund this year under its recently approved four-year lending programme, Kyiv’s top central bank officials said on Tuesday.
Earlier this week, Ukraine received the first USD 2.7 billion tranche under the programme, which constitutes a part of a bigger global package of support, worth USD 115 billion, Britain’s The Guardian newspaper reported.
Wednesday is day 406 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: UK Ministry of Defence, The Guardian, Reuters