Representatives of the governments of Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia-Montenegro and Slovenia and representatives of the Russian Federation signed in Moscow on Wednesday a memorandum determining the amount of the former Soviet Union's debt to the former Yugoslavia, Jutarnji List reported.

The memorandum was signed by Russia's Deputy Finance Minister Sergey Kolotuhin and Zdravko Rogic on behalf of Croatia. The memorandum sets the debt at $1.292 billion as money of account in the debt clearance scheme, while the successor- countries will hold separate negotiations with Russia on their individual shares and the model and pace of payment.

It is expected that the division of claims among the Yugoslav successor-countries will be conducted in line with rules applied to the distribution of debts Yugoslavia owes to western creditors.

Under the rules, Croatia has the right to 23% or $297.1 million of the claims. The dollar used in this scheme will be calculated as 62.5 cents, which means that Croatia's portion amounts to $186 million.

In earlier negotiations Russia suggested that it pay back part of its debt to Croatia in kind, in oil and gas, as well as to provide mine clearing services in eastern Slavonia.

(NewsBase 19.ix.03)