Euroclear

The EU plans to lend Ukraine 35 billion euros ($39 billion), backed by the revenues of Russian assets frozen in the bloc, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said Friday.

President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Nov. 8 offering a way for Russian investors to "swap" their frozen assets abroad with the frozen assets of foreign companies in Russia.

Since the conflict in Ukraine, Western countries have introduced a barrage of sanctions against Moscow, blocking its banks from making international payments and freezing Russian assets abroad.

This was then followed on February 25 by some ominous-sounding comments from Orban's chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, who in response to journalist enquiries about the viability of the IIB admitted that "it's in an extremely difficult situation [and] I don't know if it's possible to save the bank."

Russia is on the brink of its first debt default since 1998 as the Sunday deadline to make a $100 million interest payment seems certain to be missed.

Russia has the money and is willing to pay, but sanctions make it impossible to get the payments to international creditors.