Lettre au Président Dmitri MEDVEDEV
M. President Dmitri MEDVEDEV ,
For improvement of the image of Russia in the World it is necessary that Russia refunds its debts with the French savers.
In 1996 the Russian Federation commited itself to returning assets claimed by the member states of the Council of Europe. This was a condition of its admission.
Further to the 1996 and 1997 agreements with the French state, the Russian Federation has only paid back 0.5% of its debt to French bondholders.
The holders of russian bonds insist upon a complete and entire settlement on both the interest and the principal owed them by the Russian Federation.
By witholding 99.5% of the amounts which the French public had entrusted to her, Russia has not fulfilled its commitment to the Council of Europe.
Russia is still in default on its pre-1917 debt to French investors, to the tune of 80 billion US$.
Russia only paid 400 million US$ in 1999. No one can trust a country that defaults on its debt and subsequently unilaterally refuses any contact with its creditors.
Ten years ago Russia claimed to be a poor country. Today it is apparent that Russia, a fully fledged member of the G20 (the world's club of the eight richest industralised nations) is a rich country whose natural resources bring in hundreds of billions of dollars in annual revenue. In the summer of 2006 Russia decided to pay its 23 billion US$ debt to the Paris Club of creditor nations ahead of time, and claimed to be debt-free. This is not true.
Russia is still refusing to repay French investors. Therefore: Russia is still in default on 80 billion $ and must not be trusted.
The best thing for Russia is to return to discuss with the French savers to be appropriate of a right compensation.
In waiting of your answer.
Greeting distinguished.
French Association of Russian Bondholders La-voix-des-emprunts-russes@orange.fr
