Denza, Eileen;
Poulsen, Lauge;
(2023)
Settling Russia's Imperial and Baltic Debts.
American Journal of International Law
10.1017/ajil.2023.23.
(In press).
Preview |
Text
settling-russias-imperial-and-baltic-debts.pdf - Accepted Version Download (655kB) | Preview |
Abstract
The 1918 Soviet default is the longest and most complex sovereign debt dispute in history. The first settlement with a major western power came with the United Kingdom in 1986. It followed a settlement almost twenty years earlier for claims arising from the Soviet annexation of the Baltic states. We show how the two negotiations became intertwined and prompted both states to take pragmatic positions on international law. Whereas the Soviet Union showed little interest in legally justifying its inconsistent positions on debt succession, the United Kingdom developed contested legal arguments on state recognition to justify using gold belonging to the Baltic States to settle Soviet claims. In addition, we document how UK government lawyers admitted internally that Britain’s involvement in the Russian Civil War had been illegal, which in turn justified very limited compensation to British claimants.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Settling Russia's Imperial and Baltic Debts |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1017/ajil.2023.23 |
| Publisher version: | http://doi.org/10.1017/ajil.2023.23 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Political Science |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10170625 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
