MOSCOW, Dec. 9 - Russian President Vladimir Putin told his government to take Ukraine to court if it did not repay a $3 billion Eurobond while other Russian officials blasted the International Monetary Fund for softening its lending rules to help Kiev, Reuters reported.

The Kremlin reacted sharply after the Washington-based Fund announced it was changing its lending rules to allow it to continue supporting countries if they fail to repay official creditors, a change that would help Ukraine if it misses payment on the Moscow-held Eurobond, falling due on Dec. 20.

As Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev railed against the IMF for political meddling, Putin, who last month offered Kiev softer terms for repayment, told his ministers to take Ukraine to the court if settlement was not reached and Kiev failed to repay.

"Take them to court then," Putin said at a meeting with the ministers.

The IMF's change in rules embroiled the lender deeper in the nearly two-year conflict between the two neighbors, with the Eurobond becoming its focal economic point.

The two-year Eurobond was taken out by the government of Moscow-backed ex-president Viktor Yanukovych just two months before he fled to Russia in February 2014 in the face of street protests over his policy swerve away from deeper integration into the European mainstream.

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Ukraine had 10 days after the Eurobond falls due on Dec. 20 to either repay the $3 billion or accept Putin's restructuring proposal for the debt to be paid back in $1 billion installments, backed by Western guarantees, over three years.

Medvedev accused the IMF of meddling and said the Fund's decision had no legal basis but had been taken for political reasons. He said he doubted Ukraine would redeem the note.

Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalie Yaresko lauded the IMF's decision "historic".

"It allows us to understand that if we are included in this policy and we unfortunately are not able to restructure the so-called Russian Eurobond, then the doors to IMF loan financing will not be closed to us," she told journalists.

Ukraine, which has separately reached an agreement with private creditors to restructure its sovereign and sovereign-guaranteed debt to plug a $15 billion funding gap under an IMF-led $40 billion bailout program, insists the debt owed to Moscow is commercial.

Russia, which Western governments say continues to support separatist rebels in Ukraine's east, says it is country-to-country official debt outside the scope of Kiev's deal with private creditors.

Ukraine says it cannot legally offer Russia a better deal than the terms agreed with its other creditors, but it also cannot spare the $3 billion from its budget. (rt/ez)