Putin's Booby-Trapped Bonds

Well, that’s that. Russia did not make its April 4, 2022 dollar bond payments. It tried, but the accounts from which it tried to make the payments have been frozen by the US Treasury Department on account of the matter of Russia having invaded Ukraine. Whoops. In a week, the 30-day grace period for Russia to cure the default will be over. Ordinarily, one would predict a certain default to be in the offing. Vladimir Putin’s bond, however, might have a few landmines buried in them. Focusing on the dollar bond that came due on April 4, 2022, here are four of them...