Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will bail out Oleg Deripaska, the oligarch at the centre of the "yachtgate" affair, with a $2.5bn (£1.6bn) loan refinancing this week.
Mr Deripaska has until the end of the month to find the money to repay the syndicate of 13 banks, including Royal Bank of Scotland and Merrill Lynch, that provided a loan so that he could take a 25 per cent stake in mining giant Norilsk Nickel.
He approached Vnesheconombank (VEB), the state-owned bank where Mr Putin is chairman of the supervisory board, earlier this month to refinance the loan.
