Russia and Hungary settle debt problem

Russian Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin and his Hungarian counterpart Csaba Laszlo have signed an agreement on the settlement of Russia's debt to Hungary worth $467m plus interest rates today. After the signing, Kudrin specified in an interview that $61m would be written off in exchange for supplies of Russian goods to Hungary. The remaining $177.7m will be repaid in 2003-2006 by supplies of Russian goods as well. Finally, $245m in Russia's debt will be transferred by the Hungarian government to Russia's Vneshekonombank.

The Russian Finance Minister stressed that the agreement would close the issue of Russia's debt to Hungary. The debt problem will be settled completely in 2006.