DEBT:

DEBT:

Officials have provided no details on the plan to restructure debt owed to foreigners holding Russian treasury bills (GKOs), valued at $40 billion before the August 17 crash. The sketchy Russian proposal calls for paying off the bills with 10 percent cash, 20 percent in three-year interest-free bonds and the remainder in undefined four- and five-year obligations. Angry creditors still want to avoid a formal declaration of default, which could trigger a race to attach Russian assets abroad. That would choke off the thin stream of hard-currency earnings which now irrigates not only Russia’s treasury but bondholder’s prospects of recovery as well.