Russia failed to meet its obligations to creditors when it didn’t make a small interest payment in April, according to an industry body overseeing the derivatives market, a ruling that triggers some $2.2 billion in credit-default swaps.

Wednesday’s decision marks the first formal recognition within financial markets of a Russian debt default after its invasion of Ukraine caused the U.S. and its allies to impose broad financial sanctions, severing Moscow’s access to foreign bank accounts and global payment systems.

Russia failed to include roughly $1.9 million in accrued interest when it made a 28-day late payment on a $2 billion sovereign bond in April, which the Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee said amounts to a failure-to-pay event.

The missed payment won’t trigger a cross-default on Russia’s other bonds, since the country’s foreign-currency debts require nonpayment of at least $75 million for cascading defaults to occur. But it triggers credit-default swaps that act as insurance against nonpayment, putting investment firms that sold default protection on the hook to swap holders. Pacific Investment Management Co. has been among those writing insurance, with more than $1 billion in long positions on the Kremlin’s creditworthiness in the firm’s mutual funds, according to securities filings.

“This event has no material impact on Pimco,” said a spokesperson for the asset manager, noting that the value of the swap contracts it holds has already been marked down in portfolios.

Following Wednesday’s decision, a settlement auction will be organized for protection buyers to be made whole on their swaps contracts, likely to occur within a month.

Typically, when a country or corporation defaults on a bond with a credit-default swap, investment banks and brokerages that facilitate the swaps will participate in an auction to determine the value of the entity’s debt, usually at a discount to face value.

Swap investors who own Russian sovereign bonds also will be able to tender their eligible debt in the auction. At a later stage in the auction process, investors, including those who have no underlying swap exposure, may be able to bid for the tendered bonds if there is sufficient supply. The lower the value of the tendered bonds, the greater the insurance payouts to compensate swap holders.

Even though Russia didn’t remit the $1.9 million in interest payments due on the April bond, creditors holding the underlying debt haven’t organized to accelerate its due date or call a formal default against the Kremlin and won’t likely do so given the small amount to recover, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The $1.9 million in accrued interest stems from Russia’s 28-day delay in paying a $2 billion bond last month as Moscow said it intended to pay foreign creditors in rubles, retaliating against U.S. sanctions that limited Russia’s access to American bank accounts. Russia later paid in dollars, but without accounting for the interest that accrued during the grace period.

Further defaults appear inevitable after the U.S. prohibited banks and investors from receiving debt payments from Moscow. Investors still haven’t received $71 million in interest payments that were due last week under a dollar-denominated bond, according to the person familiar with the matter, and Russia also owes $394 million in interest payments across three dollar-denominated bonds at the end of June, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.

The Kremlin has flirted with default several times since the war with Ukraine began, as the U.S. and allies tightened Russia’s access to the global payments systems and many of the country’s foreign reserves held abroad. Yet it avoided default for nearly three months by taking advantage of exemptions in sanctions rules that allowed for continued debt payments.

The exemption allowing U.S. banks and investors to receive Russian debt payments expired May 25, and the U.S. declined to renew it—the most serious challenge yet for Russia’s ability to stay current. A White House spokeswoman said last month that would push Russia into default, cementing its “pariah” status in global markets.

Write to Alexander Saeedy at alexander.saeedy@wsj.com