Appeal to Russia's International Debtors

Following the AFIPER Board of Directors meeting held on Monday, September 1, chaired by Mr. Eric Sanitas, President,

WE, AFIPER (ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONALE FEDERATIVE DES PORTEURS D’EMPRUNTS RUSSES),

RECALLS

That by a decree of January 21, 1918 (Julian Calendar) or February 3, 1918 (Gregorian Calendar), the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets purely and simply canceled all loans issued or guaranteed by Tsarist Russia.

That if the Franco-Russian agreements of 26 November 1996 and 27 May 1997 between France and Russia allowed French holders of Russian bonds to be partially compensated while authorising them to take back their bonds after the census and compensation, the Council of State (Conseil d’Etat 2 February 2004, no. 229040) ruled that these agreements do not produce any direct effect with regard to individuals and that the securities retained all their rights. Furthermore, the Court of Cassation (Cour de cassation April 10, 2013, No. 11-21947) upheld this decision and reiterated that Russia is indeed the sole debtor state to holders of Russian bonds issued or guaranteed by Russia before January 1918.

NOTING

That Holders of Russian bonds cannot assert their rights before Russian courts, which are notoriously biased and dependent on the Russian Executive, and that the French Court of Cassation ruled ( Cour de cassation November 6, 2019, No. 18-16437) that Russia enjoyed immunity from jurisdiction in French courts over these securities because they were forever exempt from all Russian taxes. And that the application filed with the European Court of Human Rights was declared inadmissible on October 5, 2023.

CONSIDERING that the value of a Russian bond was calculated by an independent expert as of August 31, 2025, at more than €70,000.

CONSIDERING that the only way for AFIPER members to obtain compensation, even if significantly lower than the current value of these securities, is to transfer them to a public or private entity that would then present them to Russia as compensation for its debt.

HAS DECIDED to publish this Press Release in French and English to inform Russia’s debtors of the interest of AFIPER members who hold at least 100,000 equivalent to 500-francs gold bonds issued or guaranteed by Tsarist Russia before 1918 (i.e. an estimated debt of €7 billion as of August 31, 2025) to engage negotiations for the repurchase of all or part of the securities of AFIPER members, thus enabling Russia’s debtors to repay their debt to the Russian State through compensation based on a price per security well below the amount of their debt to Russia.