"Russian Federation has a UN veto because it paid off the USSR's foreign debt" - Really?
Debunking Kremlin propaganda. As usual, the opposite of the facts. The debt was paid from Ukraine's agreed share of USSR's external assets. And Russia ACKNOWLEDGED it was NOT inherited from the USSR.
Debunking Kremlin propaganda. As usual, the opposite of the facts. The debt was paid from Ukraine's agreed share of USSR's external assets. And Russia ACKNOWLEDGED it was NOT inherited from the USSR.
Other posts in this substack have shown conclusively that Russian federation (RF) is not a member of the United Nations, and does not have a veto, yet the internet and social media are full of this claim and “expert opinions” arguing it.
It is impossible to know how many people actually believe Russian propaganda, and how many are paid trolls. But lets just look at the basic logic.
Overview: logical non sequitur.
The logic of this argument is at about the level of a 5 year old child. It is designed to convince people who have no knowledge of the law or the facts of this situation, or simply don’t think about it.
“Non sequitur” is a logical concept that one fact does not lead to another. For example, if 2 children have the same parents, it follows that they are siblings. But if 2 children have the same hair colour, it does not follow that they are siblings. The second is an example of a non sequitur.
So, if I pay the debts of a deceased person, can I get their right to vote in their government elections? No. Apart from the fact that they do not have power to assign their right to vote to someone else (even when they were alive), they haven’t even agreed to transfer that right.
What actually happened?
1. The Moscow Treaty of Succession, 4 December 1991.
Even before the USSR broke up, Russia openly admitted it was not the USSR was not it’s “successor”, and did not “inherit” the USSR’s debts: in the Moscow Agreement on legal succession regarding external state debt and assets of the USSR signed on 4 December 1991.
In short, this treaty proves that Russia and all the other ex members of the USSR did not inherit the USSR’s debts, or anything else. They were forced to guarantee payment of those debts because no banks would give them credit, and no countries would deal with them, until they had an enforceable assurance of repayment of those debts. So the ex Soviet States divided up the USSR’s debt and each guaranteed the payment.
So how does this magically make one of the ex Soviet States “successor” of a UN membership, or anything else for that matter?
If I pay my dead landlord’s debts (say, to stop my accommodation being sold),
does that magically put me on my Government’s electoral roll in their place?
Can I exercise their vote in my Government’s elections?
The background
In 1990, the member Republics of the USSR, including the then RSFSR (Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, which later changed it’s name to Russian Federation) were breaking away, declaring their sovereignty.
RSFSR declared sovereignty on 12 June 1990.
The economic and social crisis reached intolerable levels in 1991, the members were unable to have any dealings with other countries or entities such as banks because they were not responsible for the USSR debt estimated at $93 billion.
The refusal of foreign entities to recognise them led to the Moscow Treaty on succession in relation to external
state debt and assets of the USSR signed by 8 countries on 4 December 1991.
The treaty
The Treaty itself recites: “Realizing that a guarantee of servicing and repaying the external debt of the USSR is a prerequisite for further
entry into the world economy”.
“taking into account the impossibility of guaranteeing the repayment of the external debt of the USSR without
resolving issues regarding the division of assets of the USSR“, the Treaty divided the external debt and assets of the USSR between the members, on a percentage basis.
In accordance with the 1983 Vienna Convention on the need to determine the fair share of each of the successor states, the share of each of the participants was calculated using factor analysis. It was based on four indicators: the shares of the republics in exports, imports, national income produced and the population of the USSR for 1986 - 1990.
2. Reiteration after Yeltsin’s claim to “continue” the USSR UN memberships
Yeltsin made the claim to “continue” the USSR’s UN memberships on 24 December 1991.
On 13 March 1992, a further treaty affirming and implementing the Moscow Treaty of Succession was signed. Again, totally inconsistent with any claim that Russia “inherited” anything from the USSR.
But, due to it’s timing, this treaty proves that Russia had no belief in inheritance at the time it started fraudulently and illegally trespassing in the UN.
It proves that Russia knew very well that it had inherited nothing. It didn’t inherit the debts. It didn’t inherit the assets. It didn’t “continue” the USSR.
It proves that Yeltsin'’s claim of “continuing” the USSR’s membership was a bare-faced fraud.
All the treaties signed by the ex soviet states are consistent with each other. All states, including RSFSR (Russia), continued in their previous capacity as states, and they divided the USSR’s external debts and assets between them.
3. So why did Russian Federation pay the debts?
But, of course, as usual, the Russian Federation breached that agreement, as well as all the others. It refused to provide accounts or divide the USSR assets (Yeltsin had got hold of the records when Gorbachev resigned), so the other states became liable for the debts without receiving the assets. Ukraine demanded that Russia account for and divide the assets before it would pay it’s share of the debt. Ukraine is still waiting, 33 years later, for Russia to disclose the assets and and transfer Ukraine’s share, before paying its share of the debt.
RF bullied the other smaller ex members to give up their rights under the Treaty by assigning their shares of both the debt and assets to RF.
In December 1994 in Moscow Russia and Ukraine signed a similar agreement. However it has never entered into force, since the Ukrainian parliament refused twice - in 1997 and 2009 ratify it.
On 19 February 1994 Ukraine’s Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) imposed a number of requirements before it would consider ratification. Among them was the provision by RF of complete information on the state of the gold reserves, diamond fund and balance sheets of banks of the former USSR as of December 1, 1991, as well as the book and market value of property of the former USSR abroad with an international audit. Russia has refused to provide these.
Even impeached President Victor Yanukovych’s policy at the time of his election in 2010 was insistence that “(the property of the former USSR. - IF) should be divided between the countries of the former USSR”. “(negotiations on the division of property of the former USSR. - IF) has been going on practically since the first years of Ukraine’s independence, and today we do not see a solution yet”. 2014-03-16 Interfax.ru "Yatsenyuk recalled the division of property of the former USSR". (No doubt this was a contributing reason for the outrage at Yanukovych’s about face in 2013 which caused the 2014 Maidan Revolution of Dignity.)
What are the USSR’s external assets?
One commentator listed them as including: “
all Soviet hard currency (including that held by Soviet companies in bank accounts, both domestically and abroad),
all gold reserves,
all diamond and other gems collections,
the world's largest (or second largest, depending on how you count) nuclear arsenal (and denial of nuclear weapons to any other successor state),
the seat at the Security Council at the UN, and all embassies, consulates and other foreign representations (and associated real estate, obviously) abroad. All debt that foreign countries owed to USSR they now owed to Russia. Also, three of the four naval fleets USSR had (Baltic, Pacific and Northern Fleets) became Russian too. Also, Russia claimed exclusive ownership of all intellectual property registered under Soviet “authorship certificate” system. There were other items they claimed as well in this transition, demanding recognition as the “sole successor of the USSR”.
What is the legal status of the un-ratified treaty?
TBC:
The provisions of the treaty
TBC
International law: notes from UNTC Glossary of terms relating to Treaty actions:
Unless the treaty provides otherwise, the deposit of the instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession establishes the consent of a state to be bound by the treaty.
States may express their consent to be bound by an "exchange of letters/notes”
Typically, the provisions of the treaty determine the date on which the treaty enters into force. Where the treaty does not specify a date, there is a presumption that the treaty is intended to come into force as soon as all the negotiating states have consented to be bound by the treaty
Bilateral treaties may provide
When the treaty is not subject to ratification, acceptance or approval, "definitive signature" establishes the consent of the state to be bound by the treaty. Most bilateral treaties dealing with more routine and less politicized matters are brought into force by definitive signature, without recourse to the procedure of ratification.
Heads of State, Heads of Government and Ministers for Foreign Affairs are considered as representing their state for the purpose of all acts relating to the conclusion of a treaty and do not need to present full powers
The Vienna conventions: general international law
There are 2 fundamental international legal instruments regarding succession, however they are essentially only guidelines, as few countries have signed or ratified either of them. Neither the USSR nor Russia signed either of them. They were used as the basis for the Treaty of Succession.
the Vienna Convention on the Succession of States in Respect of Treaties August 23, 1978. Certified true copy (Ratified: 23; other Signatories : 19.) Ratified by Ukraine on 26 Oct 1992 and
the Vienna Convention on the Succession of States in Respect of State Property, State Archives and Public Debts April 8, 1983. Certified true copy (Not in force, it has only been signed by 14 countries, and ratified by 7). Ukraine ratified it on 8 January 1993 (one can guess after encountering problems with RF performing it’s obligations under the Moscow Treaty of Succession).
TBC
References and resources:
Foreign assets of the USSR: what Russia and Ukraine did not share - DW - 12/14/2021