"Under the Sign of Scorpion" by Juri - Gnostic Liberation Front

was well-known that Moscow could not even afford to pay the interest on
these loans. Repayment was not expected. In 1984 alone, the Soviet block
receivcd loans totalling 50 billion dollars at the same time as modern
technology was delivered free of charge. (Det Basta, October 1985.) In
1984 the Soviet Union owed the Western banks 136.7 billion dollars,
including 28.7 billion owed to various private banks. (Svenska Dagbladet,
4th May 1985.) Despite this, "loans" amounting to 200 million dollars
were received from the First National Bank of Chicago while Morgan
Guaranty, the Bankers Trust and the Irving Trust gave the Soviet Union
another 200 million dollars at an especially low rate of interest. These
loans were without securities and the borrower was supposed to have
begun repaying them six years later. The borrower was allowed to use the
money for anything whatever - as if the Soviet Union was the banks' best
customer. The newly opened archives have revealed that Moscow made
var illegal money transfers to Communist parties all around the world.
Moreover, some goods were sold to the Soviet Union at a much lower
price than on the world market. The Western taxpayers had to pay the
difference. In this way the EEC "sold" 100 000 tons of butter to the Soviet
Union for approximately 45 pfennigs per kilogram while the German
consumer had to pay over 10 DM per kilogram (100 pfennigs = 1 DM).
Another 100 000 tons of butter were later "sold" to the Soviet Union at the
highcr price of 70 pfennigs per kilogram. Everything according to
Expressen, 8th of August 1987.
In the years 1984-1986, the Soviet Union lost approximately 8 billion
dollars in yearly oil-profits (though the volume of exports was roughly the
same) as a result of the fall in price. This should be compared with the
nation's total exports, which amounted to 20-25 billion dollars. In 1989
the Soviet Union managed to scrape together only 18 billion dollars'
worth of exports (mainly consisting of oil, gold and weapons). A third of
the export capital in 1990 was spent on grain. Other goods also had to be
imported. The Soviet Union's imports paid for in Western currencies
increascd by 23 per cent in 1989 while its income of the same currencies
increased only by 7-8 per cent.
The satellite states and third world countries, in turn, owed the Soviet
Union 85 billion dollars, which they could not repay. The Soviet budget
deficit in 1989 was 100 billion roubles, making up 25 per cent of the bud-
get. In the spring of 1990 the Soviet Union faced an acute currency crisis,
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