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.

1918年的苏联违约是历史上持续时间最长、最复杂的主权债务争端。1986 年，英国与西方大国达成了第一个和解。近二十年前，就苏联吞并波罗的海国家所产生的索赔问题达成了和解。我们展示了两次谈判如何交织在一起并促使两国在国际法上采取务实立场。尽管苏联没有兴趣在法律上证明其在债务继承问题上不一致的立场，但英国却提出了关于国家承认的有争议的法律论据，以证明使用属于波罗的海国家的黄金来解决苏联的索赔是合理的。此外，我们记录了英国政府律师如何在内部承认英国参与俄罗斯内战是非法的，