MOSCOW, May 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has not yet decided whether to allocate Ukraine a $5 billion loan to help its economy overcome the global recession, a deputy Russian finance minister said on Wednesday.
"Ukraine requested the loan in February 2009. The issue has been considered, and at the current moment, the loan has not been issued, a decision on the loan has not been made," Dmitry Pankin told RIA Novosti.
He added that Moscow and Kiev, which is seeking NATO and EU membership, were continuing to maintain contacts on cooperation in the financial sphere.
Some media reports earlier said Russia could agree to grant Ukraine a $5 billion loan if Kiev spent $3 billion of the total on Russian gas deliveries.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has received two loan tranches of $4.5 and $2.8 billion, respectively, as part of a $16.4 billion loan program provided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to stabilize its economy, which had been seriously hurt by the current economic meltdown.
