Washington granted Kiev authorities $1 billion in loan guarantees, which came into force on Friday. The loan comes amid Kiev’s punitive military operation on eastern Ukraine, so far resulting in dozens killed and injured among the civilian population.
The warranties and conditions of the $1 bn loan guarantees, that the US is giving acting
through its Agency for International Development (USAID), are to
be issued on Monday, according to the US Federal Register.
The loan guarantees will be in accord with the agreement between
the US and Ukraine made on April 14. The loan will apply to sums
borrowed from Friday and thirty days after, not exceeding the
total of $1 billion in principal amount and is to be repaid by
Ukraine with interest.
On May 7 Ukraine received its first emergency rescue money from
the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The two-year program is to
shell out over $17bn in aid to Ukraine's troubled economy. In
total the international community has promised the coup-appointed
authorities in Kiev $27bn.
The country gripped by riots has over $9 bn in debt, including
the Ukraine’s gas debt to Russia, which hit $3.5 bn in May.
Russian energy minister Aleksandr Novak said in April that
Ukraine’s growing gas debt may lead to the failure of the
country’s transit obligations and the reduction of gas supplies
to southeastern Europe.
In December Russia provided a $15 billion no-strings-attached
loan to former Kiev authorities headed by President Victor
Yanukovich. However following the coup in Kiev in February Moscow
rescinded the offer.
The US loan guarantees come as the coup appointed authorities
launched a punitive military operation in the eastern part of the
country that has been gripped by anti-Kiev protests. The
residents of the eastern Donetsk region outraged by Kiev’s
policies are planning to hold a referendum on the federalization
of the region on Sunday.