Russian President: Russia intends paying debts inherited from the USSR

Speaking to reporters at a Moscow airport yesterday where he was seeing off German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Vladimir Putin said that Russia would repay all its debts inherited from the Soviet Union. Mr Putin reiterated that a quarter of all budget spending for 2001 had been earmarked for debt payment, BBC reports. Russia announced on Friday that it plans to delay its scheduled payments to the Paris Club of industrial nations. But Mr Putin promised to meet all financial obligations while indicating that Russia wanted the payments restructured. "Russia intends paying, and it is going to pay debts inherited from the USSR," Vladimir Putin said.