EXPLAINER: What would a Russian bond default mean?

By The Associated Press

Ratings agencies say Russia could default on its dollar-denominated bonds, billions of which are owed to foreigners. That prospect, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, recalls Moscow’s 1998 default that fueled wider financial disruption. The default possibility has become more than market speculation after the head of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, conceded she no longer sees it as an “improbable event.” Russia says it might make payments in rubles instead of dollars due to sanctions on banks, and that by itself could be called default. Although the war and sanctions are shaking the global economy through higher fuel and food prices, default by itself wouldn’t probably have the same global fallout as Russia’s 1998 financial crisis.