Russia’s sovereign default has become a reality.

Russia’s sovereign default became more likely after US bond market regulators announced that the Kremlin had defaulted on its obligations to service Russia’s government debt by offering creditors interest payments in rubles for US dollar-denominated bonds. According to the WSJ, the payments in rubles were made on April 6 after the US bank JPMorgan refused to transfer $649M to the holders of Russian bonds, which are in Russian Central Bank accounts that are frozen as a result of sanctions. If Russia does not pay this amount by May 4, when the grace period expires, it will formally be in a state of default, or, as Moody’s analysts write, such a situation “may be considered a default.”