Nigeria is known to have re-purchased, at heavily
discounted prices, large chunks of its $2.2 billion debt to Russia in
the secondary market through British and American intermediaries. It
claims to have received a penalty waiver "from some of its creditors".
Russia has settled the $1.7 billion owed it by Vietnam last year. The
original debt - of $11 billion - was reduced by 85 percent and spread
over 23 years. Details are scarce, but observers believe that Russia
has extracted trade and extraction concessions as well as equity in
Vietnamese enterprises.
But Russia is less lenient with its former satellites. Two years ago,
Ukraine had to supply Russia with sophisticated fighter planes and
hundreds of cruise missiles incorporating proprietary technology. This
was in partial payment for its overdue $1.4 billion natural gas bill.
Admittedly, Ukraine is also rumored to have "diverted" gas from the
Russian pipeline which runs through it.
The Russians threatened to bypass Ukraine by constructing a new,
Russian-owned, pipeline to the EU through Poland and Slovakia.
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