Author Description

This report uses publicly available, unclassified information as background for an effort to describe the nature of and motivations for Soviet international hard-currency financial transactions. These include all Soviet dealings with the industrialized world outside the Soviet Bloc and most Soviet dealings with developing countries. The authors attempt to determine how much, with whom, how, and why the Soviets deal in international financial markets. In addition, they have aimed to assess the value of future research into Soviet financial dealings. The report (1) provides an overview of the Soviet hard-currency balance sheet; (2) assesses the completeness of current reporting on Soviet debts; (3) discusses Soviet assets; (4) examines the style of Soviet operations in international financial markets; and (5) outlines possible directions for future research.