Russia may swap Paris debt to pre-empt Aries style deals;

Russia may consider swapping around $50bn of Paris Club debt into Eurobonds, the country's finance minister, Alexei Kudrin, said at a press conference yesterday (Thursday).

The announcement comes after Germany sold Eu5bn of Eurobonds credit-linked to Soviet-era Paris Club debt owed to it by the Russian Federation at the beginning of July.

Kudrin's announcement may be a preemptive strike before other creditor nations follow suit, analysts said.

"Since Russia cannot control how or when its creditors...