Dear Readers:
The Ukrainians, always creative in their thinking, have come up with a new way to demand cash. I call it the “Reverse Jubilee”. Namely, all their debts are forgiven, and then they get to seize your assets. Or, as comedian Yakov Smirnoff might say: ”In America, when you don’t pay for car, repo-man seizes your car. In Ukraine, when you don’t pay for car, car seizes repo-man and his car too!”
To explain this brilliant concept, I have this piece by reporter Ilya Abramov.
The lead paragraph begins by explaining how the Ukrainian government has submitted a claim for “shared” property of the USSR. Russian Senator Andrei Klimov explains how this claim is laughable: When the Soviet Union dissolved, the Russian Federation assumed all of the foreign debts of all the Soviet Republics, in return for title over all Soviet foreign assets. Everybody agreed to it at the time, and it’s just elementary contract law. But the Ukrainian government, desperate for cash, is trying to find a way to break that contract and get its hands on Russia’s foreign assets. Klimov: ”From a legal point of view, their claim is ridiculous. Russia has full rights over the USSR’s foreign property, since it paid off the debts of all the Soviet Republics, including Ukraine and the Baltic Republics. In return for which, Moscow received not one ounce of gratitude from these nations.”
This whole thing started on April 2, 1993. The government of the newly-fledged Russian Federation officially assumed responsibility for the foreign debts of ALL the Soviet Republics. [yalensis: and actually paid them off eventually, from what I understand.] In return for which, these other Republics signed away any claims to any foreign assets or properties owned by the USSR. The deal was labelled the “zero-sum variant” (нулевой вариант) since the assets and the debts washed each other out almost to a tee. The debt which Russia assumed at the time was worth $96.6 billion dollars.
Reverse Jubilee
The separate contract between Russia and Ukraine was concluded and signed on December 9, 1994. According to the terms of that contract, the Russian Federation was determined to be the legal heir to the former USSR, assuming all its foreign debts, but also taking claim to its foreign assets. This document specified that Ukraine’s share of the foreign debt would have been $12.1 billion dollars, or 16.37% of the total debt. Which the Ukrainians were able to just skip away from, free and clear.
[yalensis: There is a whole other Biblical parable here, about a huge, prosperous nation, a large and highly-educated population, left with an immense “dowry” of sorts, namely an industrial base, agriculture, a debt-free and happy land, rolling fields and rivers and ports beyond all comprehension; and how they pissed it all away in just 30 years.]
Given this history, according to Klimov: ”Ukraine’s claim to Soviet assets – this is just a PR stunt on behalf of their leadership. Zelensky’s office understands full well that they have no leg to stand on. What is going on is that Western financial assistance is drying up, which makes it ever harder for these leaders to steal more money, so now they are looking for new sources of cash to milk and steal.”
Klimov concludes: ”Russia should not weaken its own stance one whit. These thievish attempts to confiscate our property may continue to occur. Therefore, Moscow needs to be ready to employ tit for tat responses.”
Ukraine’s position is that its portion of the Soviet “dowry” was unfairly and illegally taken by the Russian Federation. They were bamboozled, in other words. In an attempt to get their “fair share”, the Ukrainian government has created a working group. To this day, the “working group” has not clarified exactly which assets they have in mind, where these assets are located, or how much they are worth.
The most hysterical part of the whole story, the reporter concludes, is how the Ukrainian fascist government has done everything in its power to obliterate the Soviet legacy. (For example, by the end of last month the city of Lvov announced it had finally finished removing ALL Soviet-era statues and monuments.) And yet that same government now has the gall to demand a further portion of the vast material heritage that was left behind by the USSR. It’s like spitting on your dead parent, but still demanding a share of his will. Which you already signed away to your brother.
Awful Avalanche 
good piece.
The oddity of the Soviet Empire was that it was actually based on exporting communism and paying for the privilege. Most empires (British, French, current US) are basically about bringing in wealth for the home nation.
The Soviets did this in reverse. Subsidising the empire all paid for by Russia (like Germany in the EU).
When i say Soviets do I mean Russians? No I mean the communist Part made up of Lithuanians, Georgians, Ukrainians and Russians. But the surpluses exported came from Russia.
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Thanks, this is a good point. Communist empires are sort of “opposite” of imperial empires.
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They have brought it upon themselves.
The economies of Russia and Ukraine were closely intertwined, and while the dissolution of the Soviet Union didn’t change that, the 2014 coup profoundly did.
In 2014 I had contact with employees of Motor Sich in Dnepropetrovsk, who told me, that there was no work in their department, because the cooperation with Russian companies had been ended. Russians had been the most reliable customers and and most production lines at Motor Sich were tailor made for them.
Two month later the employees were laid off and as there was no chance to get a decent job in Ukraine they left to take menial (and clearly dead-end) jobs in the UAE. They all were well educated and well trained, but their expertise and skills were not needed anymore.
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Sad… Ukraine’s de-industrialization clearly accelerated after 2014. I think this was one of the goals of the EU/USA.
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“The economies of Russia and Ukraine were closely intertwined, and while the dissolution of the Soviet Union didn’t change that, the 2014 coup profoundly did.”
More than intertwined. Ukraine was built up at expense of Russia herself. Steel, coal, industrial chemicals, manufacturing, armaments, aviation, all aimed at providing steady work, much of it skilled, and a good standard of living. Securing the frontier was an obvious motive, but it even went as far as ceding historic Russian territory. The same reasoning was behind locating Kamaz in Tatarstan. Distribute the wealth so nobody feels left out. It worked too, at least in Tatarstan’s case. Tatarstan Supergood!
More here: https://ebear.substack.com/p/tatar-mini-mix
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Great points. That was how the Soviet Union worked, in essence. It was a highly INCLUSIONARY society based on economic development of all the regions.
Woke Westies high on DEI think they know what inclusionism means, but they really don’t. It doesn’t mean just being polite to everyone, it means making sure everyone has a good job that provides value to society and dignity to the individual.
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It’s my understanding that Gorbachev proposed a new union based on democratic principles which would have kept at least part of the old union together. This would have combined Belarus, Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan into one entity, with the remaining republics given the option to join later when certain not unreasonable conditions were met. The idea was rejected by both Kravchuk and Yeltsin who preferred to reign over their smaller piece of the pie, and that was the end of that, as the program could only go forward if the new union retained a majority Slavic population. Chances are if Kravchuk had been on board, Yeltsin would have conceded, but that didn’t happen so they had their chance and they blew it.
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I am trying to recall that famous quote, was it Milton? something about preferring to rule in Hell than to serve in Heaven.
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Cannot argue with the logic of this post. Ifs ands or buts are irrelevant. We are in the here and now, folks. Jabbering about this and that in the past solves nothing when you have a puppet Ukrainian government in place run by ideologues from the grand and glorious USA. I mean, forget if Ukraine got a square deal from Yeltsin — it got the same deal as all the other Soviet socialist republics. What’s special about Ukraine? Eff all.
These days we have no idea of how much of Ukraine’s land is supposedly owned by Blackrock and all the other hedge funds and public pension outfits. Arguing the toss about who owns what in Ukraine is a waste of effort. Because? It makes no damned difference whatsoever given current circumstances.
What I am encouraged by is the apparent transplantation of the Zircon hypersonic ship-based missile to ground installations in Crimea. Right now, when Mig 31s take off in Russia, alarm bell air raid alerts go off all over Ukraine, and the big boys head to deep bunkers to sullenly eye each other. The Kinzhal’s limitation is that it is air-launch only. But the hypersonic Zircon flies from sea or ground level. What a lovely threat to the scoundrel Budanov, the US’s terrorist planner of drone, missile and shell attacks on Russia “proper”. This dope, who is tipped to be the US choice for Prez after Zalensky and Zaluzxhny finish trying to off each other, supposedly lives and works in his Intelligence Building on the shores of the River. It was already hit once. Now, there is a report that a Zircon hit Kiev. Nobody heard it arrive, just the bang and pieces of missile discovered afterwards have led to the speculation — it’s Zircon time! Or Tsirkon time, take yer pick. Watch out Kirill, Russia is coming for your ass. You’re the US choice, Zaluzhny is MI6’s choice. Zelensky is sucking wind. Avdeevka is just about had it as well.
Anyone read the so-called transcript of Tucker Carlson’s interview with Putin? Hope that isn’t it, because it’s as shallow as a mid-summer rain puddle after a gentle flower-watering shower on an otherwise glorious day, We shall see if Carlson isn’t arrested by the EU thought police and Musk prevented from airing the actual video on X tomorrow. No fan of Tucker in general myself, but he does indeed have balls of the finest titanium alloy. The Blob is outraged! Outraged I tell ya. Watch an extra big batch of Palestinians get bombed to death in Rafal today! The US Empire is not to be trifled with! Wah! Obey us or else! Wah!
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“What’s special about Ukraine?”
Some of the richest soil on the planet. Not called the breadbasket of the USSR for no reason. Abundant minerals to the east, which Russia now owns, but the real gem is the largely undeveloped Black Sea coast, which is also true of Russia. I looked at Croatian coastal real estate after their war, and prices were a definite steal. Not anymore, and I kick myself that I didn’t move on that info.
The same is true today of Georgia, Russia, and once things settle down, that part of Ukraine which is soon to be Russian. I’ve looked at prices in the Novorossiysk and Anapa area and they look very attractive right now. Land on the Azov Sea is also largely undeveloped and plots there are dirt cheap because that’s all they are right now – dirt. Sochi is overpriced, but that’s to be expected as it’s a ski resort.
The upshot is that if the Russian economy continues to grow at its present pace, and there’s no reason to believe it won’t, then more and more Russians (and others) will be able to buy Black Sea property, or take their vacations there. I was actually planning a trip to the area when the ‘pandemic’ struck, and of course recent hostilities make it difficult so that will have to wait. I’ve lived in Vancouver most of my life so I know how crazy real estate can get, and I see something like that coming for the only warm part of Russia that also has an ocean and nice beaches. It’s not the French Riviera, but it’s good enough for Russians (and me).
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ebear, you sound like a person with a solid sense for real estate. I think you’re on the right track looking at buying maybe a small plot on the Azov Sea. Once Russian development starts, that whole area is going to be booming. There will be beaches, boating, vacation condos, golf courses, you name it!
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If only I had the requisite language skills, the Russian Black Sea coast would sound like a pretty attractive place to retire with my small sailboat but alas…Russia has had the good sense to ensure that all who wish immigrate to it’s shores must meet 1] minimum standards 2] willing to culturally assimilate 3] LEARN RUSSIAN. I think I got number one down, number two…kinda but three…yeah, as people here can see my language skills are problematic and highly…anglophilic
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The language requirement only applies to citizenship. A residency permit should be fairly easy to obtain if you’re retiring and have the means to support yourself. Once you’re there you’ll pick up the language, and in the meantime most young people in urban areas speak English so you won’t be totally lost. I would look for an apartment in Anapa. Russians rent apartments for the holidays so a management company will rent it out for you while you’re not there. Specify families if you do that so the place doesn’t get wrecked by partysans lol.
some RE info:
http://www.rlt24.com/en/prices/anapa
here’s what the place looks like:
I’m looking more at Novorossiysk myself as I’m thinking to start a small trucking company, and they’re in the midst of a big port expansion so business should good.
Here’s Novorossiysk:
It’s a Hero City so it’s well kept and a big tourist destination, not far from Anapa and close to Sochi as well if you like skiing.
Another bonus is you’re close to Georgia, which is gorgeous and very friendly, and also Turkey which is just a ferry ride away:)
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Maybe someday I can convince my family to escape. Though they have to stop thinking of Russia as the ’90s version, and stop imagining Canada as the land of (nicer) freedom.
Personal experience: you can pick up Russian serviceably within a few months of immersion. It’s harder than, say, German, but not as hard as tonal languages. Becoming literate in it is another matter….
But yes: the Black Sea coast is Russia’s California–right down to the climate, though the northern part does get cold. That has as much of a draw as the left coast has had to the States.
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Ahoy there S. Brennan.
Delighted to hear you have a small sailing boat. Way back to AA war day 665, yalensis had a story on the dispute between Romania and Ukraine over the proposed Danube to Black Sea canal, and how this wonderful engineering project has been put on the back burner. This story got me fantasising about interesting things to do with a sailboat in Russia. Don’t know how big “small” is to you but our yacht (aluminium, Bermuda rigged) is 12 meters, tiller steered and has the barest minimum of electronics. It is just right for 2 people to manage and we have sailed it all over the world for many years very economically and without major mishaps. My husband was a fisherman since his youth. Good on water. We both love ocean passages and actually slow the boat to enjoy the experience.
But one of our most interesting trips was sailing (well, motoring actually) the inland waterway from New York to the Florida keys, exiting into the Atlantic from NY to the Delaware and Chesapeake canal, with a side trip up the Potomac to Washington and again in Georgia, which was too shallow for our 2 meter draught, and returning to the waterway in South Carolina. We would love to do the Mississippi,(“Old Glory”) leg to the gulf. This waterway system is a brilliant piece of engineering and we passed under so many bridges with ingenious ways of opening to allow for waterway traffic. The traffic (for e.g. the barges carrying scrap metal) were also fascinating. At night we’d drop anchor if there wasn’t a dock to tie up alongside. The charts for the waterway are excellent, as is the system of buoyed lights and mileage markers. We spent the 6 months of our visa doing this.
Of course back here on the south western edge of Australia, facing the Indian Ocean, we are far from Russia. But having a boat stimulates the imagination in pleasant ways. I hope that you agree S Brennan.
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wow! that is an amazing story about your sailing on the American waterways. Old Man River himself. I am impressed. I wonder if you have thought of doing the “Wide Missoura”, it’s a magnificent river which I fantasize about doing someday. I mean, not in my own sailboat, which I don’t have; but maybe some kind of cruise or something… Here is the text to a nice song about it:
“Shenandoah” by Stephen White
(there are more verses somewhere, the backstory is about a fur trader who falls in love with an Indian maiden)
Oh, Shenandoah, I long to see you,
Away, you rolling river
Oh, Shenandoah, I long to see you,
Away, I’m bound away, across the wide Missouri.
Oh Shenandoah, I love your daughter
Away, you rolling river
Oh Shenandoah, I love your daughter
Away, I’m bound away, across the wide Missouri.
Oh, Shenandoah, I’m bound to leave you,
Away, you rolling river
Oh, Shenandoah, I’m bound to leave you,
Away, I’m bound away, across the wide Missouri.
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Ernie is great, but he pronounces it wrong, Americans pronounce the name of the state and the river as “Missoura” not “Missouri” !
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Thankyou. A beautiful song which brings back memories for me.
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Thank you for the kind thought. My boat is a Beneteau 235 ~7.2m or 23.5 ft.
http://www.beneteau235.com/
In 2009 I downsized from Wylie 34 to a boat that I could put on a trailer. Due to some financial brushbacks in the great recession of 2009-12, I worked a bunch of different contract jobs all over the country while trying to finish a retirement house so, the boat, while not neglected, [I’ve done a lot of projects on her], sat on the hard for years. This year is different, it’ll splash.
There is a series of vids of a guy taking a house boat down the Mississippi River starting in the fall in Minnesota, quite a journey…I think you’ll be motoring the who way. The way the DCers have allowed/encouraged financial interest to rape an pillage the industry/commerce of the Great-Lakes-Midwest-Mississippi-watershed region is a disgrace but, it’s still a place of sublime beauty.
BTW, the cup race off Perth was certainly the best ever…real sailing that.
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Thanks S. Brennan.
I like it that a man with your fine erudition and political sensibilities also enjoys sailing.
Were you in Fremantle for the cup? What a wild, wild time that was! Sailing was terrific too.
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I have not seen Tucker’s interview yet. But then I had to work late today, and I am not caught up with anything.
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“It’s my understanding that Gorbachev proposed a new union based on democratic principles which would have kept at least part of the old union together”
It is actually worse. The population of the USSR decided in its majority between 70 to 90% to keep the Union intact: “Do you consider necessary the preservation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as a renewed federation of equal sovereign republics in which the rights and freedom of an individual of any ethnicity will be fully guaranteed?” was the question.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Soviet_Union_referendum
Six of the minor Republics did not participate, 4 of those the Baltic statelets.
Why did the USSR disintegrate despite this referendum? I have tried to find a really convincing answer, but those I found argue from mostly western perspective. I have yet to find a study from the Russian perspective (in translation)
One of the studies that might help:
https://origins.osu.edu/article/soviet-collapse-yeltsin-putin-gorbachev-russia?language_content_entity=en
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Despite the referendum… My understanding (very cynical) is that the referendum didn’t matter at all, because Gorby/Yeltsiin and the other Western stooges already had their marching orders from Bush Papa. There was treason taking place at the highest level!
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Broken news: apparently Syrsky is replacing Zaluzhny, which should be fun for the cannon fodder.
Not.
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Well, at least he is a general, so presumably he attended military academy.
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He is in fact the very model of a modern major-general!
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So would Syrsky be an animal or a mineral? Coz Zaluzhny’s potato head owns the vegetable category.
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Syrsky is neither vegetable, animal, nor mineral, he’s the guy you would never notice in a crowd.
On the other hand…
He’s very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical.
He understand equations, both the simple and quadratical.
About binomial theorem he is teeming with a lot o’ news,
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse!
He also knows the basics, how to send his men to die,
He grinds them in the grinder from the toe up to the eye,
And when they beg for mercy, he just sneers and sneers a lot at them,
And says for each and everyone he’s got a grassy plot for them!
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Well-done with the meter in that last stanza that you wrote!
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Why thanks, Bukko! I was rather pleased with myself.
Something came over me and I was able to just tap that out in one go. Perhaps divine inspiration, or the ghost of W.S. Gilbert!
🙂
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The “leaders” are specifically SELECTED to be no different than the palace courtesans of the old world; they’re utterly lacking in courage, reasoning skills or original thought. They’ll do as they please until the day comes…
They way for Russia to reassert some semblance of international law/norm is to decisively crush the international army at their gates…men/supplies/munitions should never make it to the front line, not by bombing/artillery interdiction but, by a massive Russian force that is swiftly moving from west to east. Why is Ukraine’s border to the north and south secure? This after DC and it’s European poodles directly attacked Russia/Russian civilians. If you want to keep a criminal thug, THAT’S IN YOUR HOUSE, from robbing and harming your family, you don’t threaten them with the police, you fire well placed shots until the thug comes to an understanding.
As I have mentioned here before, my father had a saying which I’ll attempt to paraphrase; “with some men in this world, the only thing they truly understand is, a well placed shot”. The palace courtesans who rule the west only understand one thing. At the moment, Russia may be successfully moving the front line in Ukrainia, which is all well and good but, it’s shot’s, the ones that will make everything clear to DC/London, are falling wide of the mark.
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S, your pop sounds like real corker! I for one would never get in his way.
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When I saw your headline, I thought this post would be about the similarly ludicrous proposal to sell bonds in anticipation of the supposed $300 billion in Russian assets that will be seized ANY DAY NOW! and then give the bond money to Ukraine. Which would actually go to the United States in exchange for weapons it puts in the hands of Ukronazis just before they’re blown up by FAB bombs. Naked Capitalism has had a few mentions of this.
The way it would work is that some maggotbank would create a bond issue based on the Russian assets that are currently “frozen.” Investors — “speculators” is the better word — would fork over money to buy these bonds. That would give them the rights to grab part of the Russian assets when they’re finally pried loose from whatever bank accounts they’re frozen in. Bingo-bango — bonds repaido! What that idea amounts to is selling something that was stolen, before the bond-issuing bank even gets its hands on the goods. Such a totally Wall Street/City of London scam plan. Even more ludicrous than Blackrock buying up “rights” to Ukrainian farmland. At least the land exists. The $300 billion, who knows where it is? (accounts in banks based in Brussels, according to some articles) Could it be confiscated with some electronic legerdemain? Would it be tied up for years in court proceedings filed by Russia, or would it be a case of “Us Wasties say we own it, so that’s that. We don’t give a rosy rat’s arse about the written laws.” Who would fork over real money for potentially dubious bonds based on such a scheme?
I’m not a Wall Street scammer, so the “who” part baffles me, but there are lots of grifts which are above my pay grade. Maybe like a case of “I’ll pay $100 million for some of these bonds and that will give me a claim on $1 BILLION when the Russian money is shaken loose.” Or the bonds will be rated C-C-C quality and they’ll have to pay a 10% annual interest rate because of that. Which the bond speculator will bundle into an “investment-grade” collateralised debt obligation that way that liar loan mortgages were before the Great Financial Collapse of 2008, and use that to bilk teacher’s retirement funds in Norway that are looking for high returns. (after first bribing the Norskie chump who controls where that money goes. It’s how the financial world works.)
The bond scheme has not happened yet; still just an idea being shopped around. It, along with the attempted Ukronazi grab you describe here, and who knows what else, shows how weird the financial world is. Didja ever read any Discworld books by Terry Pratchett? If you did, you’re familiar with the phrase “it’s turtles all the way down.” In Wallstreetyworld, it’s boondoggles all the way…
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If memory serves there was some component to the schemes being discussed that collateralized the bonds with the as-yet-unpaid interest those Russian funds should have received.
Which is not 300 billion, but is still some good bit of change, after all. Maybe 2% per year? Two years or more? We’re starting to talk about real money 12-15bil worth to somehow shift into Hegemon pockets.
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Yet another ‘doggle!
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For ordinary people, only September 19 is International Pirates Day. But for imperialists, every day is Pirates Day. Yarrrggggh!
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The American accent has a hard, growling “R” sound, compared to the soft Brit/Aussie “ah” pronunciation for that letter. So I often say to Australians “We Americans all sound like pirates, because our speech is always full of “arrgh, aargh, arrgh!”
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That’s why Australian pirates just sound silly!
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