Authorities clear Russian Railways to cap debt/EBITDA at 4X in 2026, co aiming for 3.9x

MOSCOW. March 18 (Interfax) - The Russian authorities have cleared Russian Railways to increase its debt/EBITDA ratio limit in 2026 but, like last year, the company does not intend to fully use it, company chief Oleg Belozerov told Interfax.

He said Russian Railways closed 2025 with net debt/EBITDA of 3.4x, while the government capped this at 3.5x. "Our figure is lower, and therefore better," Belozerov said.

"We decided for ourselves, and the government backed us, that the [2025] figure should be 3.5x. We discussed this figure potentially reaching 4x, and this is the level the government has agreed for 2026, a sustainable level for us," he said.

"To be precise, we are setting a more stringent limit of 3.9x for 2026," he said.

As reported, the company's EBITDA came to 984.2 billion rubles, and net debt was 3.33 trillion rubles in 2025.