In September 2003, Russia, which took on the Soviet Union's entire foreign debt, signed a multilateral memorandum with the five successor countries of the former Yugoslavia on Soviet-era debt totaling 1.292 billion clearing dollars, and agreed on a clearing dollar rate of $0.625, giving the debt a total value of $800 million.
Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said at a spring session of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank that Russia largely uses commodity deliveries for debt repayment.
"Where there is [these countries'] debt to [Russian energy giant] Gazprom, Russia also uses an offset," Storchak said, meaning Bosnia (to which Russia owes $170 million) and Serbia (to which Russia owes $288 million, and which will offset a part of this sum with the Balkan state's debt to Gazprom).
