According to the president's economic advisor Andrei Illarionov, debt repayment is the only right way of spending the money from the stabilization fund. The expert also stressed that the combined foreign debt of the government and state-owned companies is actually increasing, despite a huge early repayment of $15 billion to Paris Club this year. Recent mergers and reorganization of fuel and energy sector is to blame, as Gazprom and Rosneft attracted almost $20 billion of credits from Western banks. Andrei Illarionov said that Russia should take example of Norway, where the petroleum fund is spent on capital investments abroad.
Russia warns on foreign debt