The central bank said it was ready to raise the interest rate in future to 8.5 percent and to keep it at this level until the second quarter of 2022.

More fighting on Azerbaijan-Armenia border, Baku says may enforce border on own

Until now Russia was dependent on pipelines crossing Ukraine to pump natural gas to Europe, earning Kyiv $2 billion a year.

AIIB said that the loan would be co-financed with the  Asian Development Bank (ADB) as the lead co-financier.