OREANDA-NEWS. February 02, 2010. Vladimir Putin's opening address:  The story of the fishing vessels built with money loaned by a German bank against a Russian government guarantee started in 1992. The issue was settled in terms of the Germans, but the debt was never repaid to Vnesheconombank or the Ministry of Finance.

To resolve the problem as it stands now, after deciding that these vessels can fish in our economic zone if they are registered in accordance with Russian legislation, and to pursue any other related problems, we should do the following:

The owners of these vessels built with the above-mentioned loan should register them as the property of the Russian Federation. After that, these vessels will be reregistered in accordance with Russian legislation, including registration with the Federal Agency for Fishery, so that the crews will be able to start using these vessels immediately.

The Federal Agency for Fishery will either lease these vessels back to the companies, or sell the vessels back to them but only on condition that they resolve their debt completely, some owners of which have repaid 85%-90% of the loan.

And lastly, if your counteragents recognise the fines and penalties, these fines and penalties shall be written off and the remaining debt restructured with an easy interest rate for as long as necessary to ensure consistent operation and debt repayment.