Morgan Stanley predicts Russia's default by mid-April

Analysts at one of the world's largest financial corporations, Morgan Stanley, predict that Russia will default in mid-April. It will occur after the end of the 30-day grace period for dollar - denominated bonds maturing in 2023 and 2043, Bloomberg reports.

"We consider default to be the most likely scenario, but it will not be similar to a normal default. It is best to compare the situation with Venezuela," Morgan Stanley said.

Experts say that Russia is very similar to Venezuela, as it also has significant oil assets that it will be able to dispose of only after the lifting of sanctions. In addition, in the event of a default on bonds and a court decision, the risk of creditors seizing assets that are currently frozen outside of Russia, including foreign exchange reserves, increases.

So far, Morgan Stanley experts do not understand whether US banks will be able to accept coupon payments from the Russian Ministry of Finance.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Western countries imposed several packages of sanctions, private companies one after another leave the Russian market and curtail their activities on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Russia has become the country with the largest number of sanctions imposed in the world. According to this criterion, it was even ahead of Iran and North Korea, according to the calculations of the sanctions database Castellum.ai.

Since February 22, more sanctions have been imposed against Russia than were imposed in total after the annexation of Crimea, the poisoning in Salisbury and interference in the US election.