Russia standoff could dent Ukraine's economic recovery - presidential adviser

Kyiv's standoff with Moscow over the conflict in eastern Ukraine may hurt Ukraine's economic recovery and makes the need to secure financing from the International Monetary Fund more urgent, a presidential adviser told Reuters said on Thursday.

Tensions over a build-up of Russian troops on Ukraine's eastern border have pushed up the cost of raising domestic debt and prompted the government to accelerate efforts to secure more IMF loans, Oleg Ustenko told Reuters by text message.

"An increase in the concentration of Russian troops along the Ukrainian borders in the short term negatively affects the Ukrainian economy," Ustenko said, in the first comments by a senior official on the economic impact of the standoff.