Russia’s Default Tussle With Investors Is Just Starting (Repeat)

(This story was originally published June. 7. On Sunday, the grace period on about $100 million of interest payments due May 27 expired, a deadline considered an event of default if missed.)

Bondholders are in for a tangled mess of financial, political and legal wrangling if sanctions push Russia to a historic default.

So far, Moscow has been able to navigate the restrictions to service its international debt, but that’s likely to change after the US closed another avenue to creditors, affecting about $100 million in payments due on May 27. The European Union has also sanctioned Russia’s central depository, ...