Ukraine hits at calling debt restructuring soon:
A top Ukrainian official has warned that she may invoke a moratorium on the country's debt payments before reaching an agreement with creditors to restructure debts.
Ukraine's parliament passed a law last month that would allow the government to impose a moratorium on foreign debt payments if necessary.
"I don't think we have that much time," Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko told reporters in Washington, when asked if debt negotiations could last past the summer.
"In that respect, I'd have to use other tools to reduce the pressure on the balance of payments, a moratorium," she said.
Jaresko and Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk are in Washington this week to meet with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), promote Ukraine as an investment destination, and ask U.S. officials for more economic and military support.
Jaresko said Ukraine cannot wait until September to reach an agreement with its creditors to find some $15.3 billion in savings, and likely would have to call a debt moratorium first.
She repeated that she expected the IMF to release its next $1.7 billion tranche of aid to Kyiv in July, even if there is no agreement on a debt restructuring by then.
Kyiv has been driven to the edge of default by economic mismanagement and a separatist conflict in the east.
It is trying to reach a restructuring agreement with bondholders as one of the conditions of the IMF's $40 billion bailout program.
But the two sides have failed so far to see eye-to-eye. A powerful creditors' committee refuse to offer a writedown on part of the debt that Kyiv is pressing for.
"If we're not able to make progress, then the creditors will be provoking the use of that [moratorium]," Jaresko said, adding that the government had already made some $2 billion in repayments to creditors since last year, despite fighting a conflict in the east.
She declined to say whether Kyiv would make its coupon payments to bondholders next week.
The creditors' committee has proposed drawing some $8 billion from Kyiv's central-bank reserves as part of the restructuring plan, which Jaresko has called "unacceptable."
She said such a plan undermined the very purpose of Kyiv's economic program with the IMF and other donors, which aims to bolster the level of central-bank reserves.
As part of the IMF's $17.5 billion loan program, Kyiv still must complete three reforms, including improving central-bank independence, before the IMF can release the next aid payment. Jaresko said she expected parliament to vote on the measures next week.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's prime minister met with U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to discuss a possible $1 billion in additional loan guarantees for the struggling country.
Lew assured Yatsenyuk that Ukraine would receive U.S. support, and urged him to keep carrying out the IMF reforms and debt-restructuring negotiations, Ukrainian officials said.
Yatsenyuk said he urged U.S. leaders to "help make Ukraine a success story" as part of their campaign to punish Russia for its aggressions in eastern Urkaine.
"This matters. You are the leader of the free world," he said in an interview on CNN. "You have to defend and protect" countries like Ukraine that are struggling to be free.
"It is up to the free world to deter Russia and make Russia pay the price and adhere to international law," he said.
"We passed through difficult, painful reforms [for the economy], but we want to make our country better," he said, vowing that Ukraine will stick to the path of reform this time after years of falling by the wayside.
"This is the way to boost our economy and make our economy a success story," he said.
IMF first deputy David Lipton said the IMF loan program for Ukraine was a kind of "Marshall Plan" to lift the battered country back onto its feet.
But he said that all the plans for economic stabilization and growth could be undermined by the conflict in the east, and urged full implementation of the Minsk cease-fire agreements by all parties. (Reuters, TASS, CNN)
This ends our live blogging for June 10. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.
Pope urges Putin to make "sincere" effort toward peace:
The Vatican says Pope Francis has urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to commit himself to a "sincere and great effort" for peace in Ukraine.
A statement issued after Francis and Putin met for about 50 minutes in the Vatican on June 10 added that the two agreed on the need to recreate a climate of dialogue and to implement the Minsk agreement, a peace deal struck in the Belarus capital earlier this year.
Putin earlier on June 10 held talks in Rome with Italian President Sergio Mattarella and in Milan with Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
Renzi lauded the "traditional Italian-Russian friendship" but also referring to "divergent positions" on certain issues. (Reuters, AFP, TASS)
Russia's NTV drops journalist after criticism of Putin, Ukraine policy:
A correspondent with Kremlin-allied NTV television says he was dropped by the network after he described Russian President Vladimir Putin as "cynical" and deviated from the Russian government’s narrative of the Ukraine conflict in an interview with a German state broadcaster.
Konstantin Goldentsvaig, a Berlin-based reporter for NTV, said on his Facebook page that he had become fed up working for the network, which he accused of disseminating "propaganda," and informed his bosses in March that he planned to quit.
But he said NTV released him early from his contract this week after his June 8 interview with a German public television station during the Group of Seven (G7) summit in southern Germany.
In the interview, Goldentsvaig said he believes Putin feels “insulted” that Russia was expelled from the group last year for its intervention in Ukraine.
Kyiv and Western countries accuse Moscow of backing separatists in a deadly conflict in eastern Ukraine, a charge the Kremlin denies despite evidence of direct military involvement.
The journalist also said Putin “has a great interest in having the situation [in Ukraine] remain unstable as long as possible, because Moscow profits from this.”