Russia's War Against Ukraine
OP-ED
Sasha Borovik: Ukraine should consider default
Residents queue to receive humanitarian aid in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on December 11, 2014.
The history of Governments borrowing and then failing to repay their debts goes deep. The first known sovereign default was in the 4th century BC when several Greek city-states failed to honor their debts. When a country fails to pay its creditors on time, it is said to go into "default". Most of the countries have at least one such event on their record. With some notable exceptions of Bourbon France (after the French Revolution), and repudiation of debts of the Confederation by the US (after the Civil War), the change of government does not excuse a state from handling prior debt. Defaulting countries tend to restructure their debt rather than simply refuse to pay anything at all - these are the so-called "haircuts".
