Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said Russia was planning to settle its Soviet-era debts this year with several countries including Malta, the Associated Press reported yesterday.

The other countries involved are Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia and Greece, AP said, quoting a RIA-Novosti agency report.

After relying heavily on loans from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in the 1990s, Russia’s coffers are now flush with cash as oil prices have risen, the AP said.

“Russia has had a good banking history in the past few years and will settle debts with all its creditors,” Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin was quoted by the RIA Novosti agency as saying.

Malta’s Foreign Affairs Ministry was contacted by The Malta Independent yesterday for more details, but none were forthcoming at the time of going to print.