Ukrainian finance minister denies existence of debt restructuring talks

KYIV. March 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko has denied the existence of any debt restructuring talks and has noted that Ukraine is capable of sovereign debt repayment in March and in April.

"We are not discussing restructuring at this point," Marchenko said in an interview with Lb.ua published on Monday.

"We want to demonstrate a responsible attitude towards them and are not considering a restructuring. I will explain why. The schedule of our sovereign debt payments is not hard this year, and we are fully capable of repaying it," he said.

Ukraine paid $15-16 million on its sovereign debt in March, and payments of $84 million are planned for April, Marchenko said.

"We can afford that," he said.

"Timely servicing is important to us, considering that we will need to continue to draw funds. Hence we demonstrate that we remain reliable partners under any circumstances," Marchenko said.