RESET: Russia Offers Venezuela Debt Relief.

The Russian Finance Ministry said the debt of $3.15 billion would now be repaid over 10 years, with minimal repayments during the first six years.

“Reducing the debt burden to the republic from the restructuring of liabilities will allow the funds that have been freed up to be allocated to the country’s economic development, to improve the liquidity of the debtor, and to increase the chances of all creditors to recoup credits provided to Venezuela,” the Russian finance ministry said in a statement.

The agreement comes just as Venezuela’s cash-strapped government teeters on the edge of a default on some $150 billion in outstanding debt. Struggling with a crumbling state-led economic model, President Nicolás Maduro’s administration is seeking to renegotiate payment terms with its creditors in an effort to free up import dollars needed to resolve chronic shortages of food and medicine.

This sort of thing never seems to happen to free-market economies.