The USSR issued loans to many countries, and when it collapsed, Russia was left with many debtors. However, the Russian Federation has forgiven most of its debts. To which countries were the loans written off?
In terms of the number of debts written off, Russia occupies one of the leading positions: more than one hundred billion dollars have been forgiven to debtors on large loans alone over the past 20 years. Although the debts are unpaid loans that were issued by the USSR, guided by political considerations and initially not having in mind their full repayment.
And the list of countries to which Russia has forgiven debts can be presented as follows:
- Cuba. A loan of $ 31.7 billion was written off 90% in 2014 by the Russian government. Cuba was the largest debtor to the USSR; in response to the forgiveness of the debt, it promised to compensate for Russia's losses by joint participation in energy, transport, and healthcare projects. And political analysts believe that Cuba could never return the entire loan amount, and therefore the write-off was inevitable. Cuba has to pay 3.5 billion of the remaining debt in installments every six months for 10 years.
- Iraq. $ 21.5 billion is the total amount of his loan. In 2004, Russia forgave $ 9.5 billion out of $ 10.5, and in 2008, when Iraq accumulated a new debt of $ 12.9 billion, $ 12 billion was written off. The Russian Federation did this, hoping that the government that replaced Hussein would take into account the interests of Russian companies in Iraq.
- African countries owed Russia more than $ 20 billion, but in 1999 the Russian Federation signed the Cologne Agreement, and from 60 to 90% of the debts for them were amnestied. If we consider in detail: Ethiopia was forgiven almost 6 billion, Algeria - 4, 7 (for this amount he pledged to buy industrial goods in Russia), Angola - 3, 5 (the remainder of 5, 5 billion she had to return in the form of bills until 2016) … The Russian Federation has forgiven Libya 4.6 billion in exchange for an agreement with Russian Railways on the construction of railways and the creation of an oil and gas enterprise "Gazprom" together with the Libyan state oil company.
- Mongolia owes the USSR $ 11.1 billion, but in 2003 Russia wrote off 98% of this loan. At that time, the debt was several times higher than Mongolia's GDP, and it simply could not repay it. But already in the post-Soviet era, Mongolia took another loan from the Russian Federation, from which in 2010 it was forgiven $ 180,000,000.
- Afghanistan, on the other hand, owes the USSR $ 11 billion for the supply of weapons, the construction of economic facilities and humanitarian aid. In 2006, Russia wrote off the loan in exchange for the Afghan government's agreement to maintain economic relations with Russian companies.
- The USSR began lending to North Korea back in the 1950s, and its debt to Russia ended up at $ 11 billion, 10 of which were forgiven in 2012. In exchange for this, the Russian Federation was to receive assistance from the DPRK in the field of health care, education and energy in the creation of joint projects. In addition, Russia got the opportunity to lay a gas pipeline to South Korea through North Korea, as well as take part in the reconstruction of the DPRK railway network and access to its mineral resources.
- Syria in 2005, Russia wrote off $ 9.8 billion from a loan of $ 13.4 billion. And by paying off the remaining debt, Russia and Syria entered into a number of agreements in the field of oil, construction and gas. In addition, Syria has pledged to purchase Russian weapons.
In addition to the countries indicated in the list, there are others to which the Russian Federation has forgiven debts, but in smaller amounts.
