Russia has rid itself of Soviet-era debt, paving the way for it to re-enter international capital markets after a decade.

Russia exchanged $405.8m (€282.6m) of cash and sovereign Eurobonds, maturing in 2010 and 2030, last week to the remaining outstanding bondholders of Soviet debt. "Completion of the last exchange represents the settlement of one of the most complex and comparatively large categories of the external state Soviet-era debt," Russia's Finance Ministry said.