Is it true that in the late 1980s the USSR exchanged warships for Pepsi?

Several large media published notes that tell about an unusual transaction between the Soviet government and the manufacturer of popular soda. We checked whether their content is true.

In the summer of 2019 on the website "RIA Novosti" I went out The text of Natalia Dembinskaya "Barter in our opinion: how the USSR exchanged the Navy for Pepsi soda." The author says that in the late 1980s, “a manufacturer of non-alcoholic drinks received a whole flotilla of Soviet warships at his disposal and even entered the top ten“ largest naval powers of the world ”. In particular, the Deminskaya claims: in 1989, “under the terms of the new agreement signed by Mikhail Gorbachev, Pepsico received 20 old warships for the supply of raw materials and equipment: 17 submarines of project 613, destroyer, cruiser and torpedo carrier.” Similar materials can be read, for example, on "Inosmi" And TJournal.

As the authors of the above publications correctly report, PepsiCo's sagging came to the Soviet market long before perestroika. In 1959 in the Park "Sokolniki" passed The American national exhibition, which was visited, in particular, Nikita Khrushchev. Although the most famous episode of that event is famous "Kitchen debate", during which the first secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the vice-president of the United States Richard Nixon proved the advantages of socialism and capitalism, respectively, for Pepsico, the event also became significant. During the exhibition, Khrushchev (as well as ordinary Soviet citizens) was given to try Pepsi soda - photography with the leader of the USSR and a paper glass became famous.

However, the production of soda in the USSR began much later. In 1973, Pepsico Head Donald Kendall and the head of the Soyuzdemim Port A. Nikolaev signed A five -year contract for the production of 3 million boxes per year is a symbolic volume in comparison with 800 million boxes sold in the United States a year earlier. The company invested its own funds in the construction of a plant in Novorossiysk, the purchase of equipment and staff training. It should be noted that Pepsico did not supply the drink itself - concentrated syrup was received in the USSR, which was then diluted with local soda, poured into local (not branded) bottles and sold.

The main problem that faced the contracting parties was the payment method. The Soviet ruble was not freely converted, and Kendall Offered Work according to Barter: his company supplies soda in the USSR, and in return receives vodka "metropolitan", which it sells in the Western market. Similar conditions were prescribed in the new contract, concluded in 1978; This agreement also implied the construction of several new Pepsico plants in the USSR and an increase in sales.

By 1989, Pepsico already had more than 20 factories in the USSR, and the company planned to expand production. But in the conditions of Barter for vodka, this was impossible: the number of consumers in the United States was not so large, and the company simply would not repel its investments. Among other reasons called and a sharp decrease in the popularity of the drink after the USSR invasion of Afghanistan. How Reported The New York Times, “17 submarines (for $ 150,000 each), a cruiser, a frigate and a destroyer were included in the deal.” The Lewis reporter of the Flora publication stated in his text that the vessels were originally sold as scrap metal (they, apparently, were rather old and were no longer used in the fleet). The note also said that Pepsico “bought new Soviet tankers (for transportation of oil rather than drinks) as part of a joint venture with the Soviet Union and the Norwegian company that will rent or sell them.” It was not possible to find confirmation that the signing of the contract was personally participated in Mikhail Gorbachev, as claimed by the authors of publications in the domestic media. Kendall in 1992 in the commentary for The Los Angeles Times mentioned "Agreement" with the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Nikolai Ryzhkov.

A year later the USSR and Pepsico Concluded Another major deal, which was estimated at $ 3 billion. The contract again appears an agreement on the supply of ten tankers, as well as an agreement on a two -time increase in Pepsico in the Soviet market and opening two Pizza Hut restaurants in Moscow. In this case, Gorbachev also does not mention the signatories of the agreement - The New York Times calls Among them are “high -ranking officials from the commission on agriculture and procurement, shipports and all -lawsmanship.” Due to the collapse of the USSR, it was not possible to fulfill agreements-in the process enterprises participated in the process, after 1991, who found themselves in various independent states, and with them I had to conclude individual agreements.

What allows us to say that the story about the exchange of soda for submarines actually happened? First of all, her mention in the publications of that time: in authoritative publications - The New York Times and the magazine Foreign Policy. And in 1990 about an unusual barter They told During the conference Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs. Secondly, subsequently this episode was mentioned by other no less authoritative foreign media, for example BBC, The Washington Post And Der Spiegel. Thirdly, about barter They wrote And in Soviet newspapers - for example, in the Red Star, the official publication of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR, where the text of the correspondent is backed up by an interview with the deputy chief of the Navy Admiral Vladimir Sidorov. True, for some reason the destroyer and torpedo carrier are not mentioned in this text.

On the other hand, almost all modern publications about an unusual barter refer to the 1989 publication in The New York Times, while the rest of the major editions, as far as we can judge, were ignored - for the most part about it is very uninhabited They told Small local American newspapers. At the same time, a month before in Associated Press They wrote on preliminary agreements "pay" with Pepsico new ships that will be built together with the Norwegians. There was no talk of any scrap ships. It is much more strange that we were not able to find any clarifying information about the transmitted old courts - names, posts to one or another unit, etc. Perhaps this information was supposed to clarify this information after the conclusion of the agreement, but did not have time for one reason or another.

Thus, the fact of the existence of the transaction was confirmed by one of the Pepsico leaders in a commentary for a solid American publication and one of the leaders of the Soviet Navy in an interview with the official newspaper of the USSR Ministry of Defense. Although we could not finally confirm the fact of an unusual barter, we could not find it. The blogger of Cat.cat, who is interested in this topic, writing on Pikabu, Reportedthat his interlocutors in the united shipbuilding corporation confirmed the fact of the transfer of the written off ships, but doubted that the documents proving this would ever be discovered. We also note that in the pursuit of a bright heading or memorable statement, the authors of many notes are unnecessarily summarize the available data: in no authoritative source there is no confirmation that the USSR promised to transmit PEPSICO in the current (not decommissioned) vessels, and Mikhail Gorbachev personally participated in the signing of the agreements (although he was probably in the course of the transaction). At least the exaggeration is the popular allegations that as a result of the Pepsico transaction, he was temporarily the owner of either the sixth or the seventh largest fleet on the planet.

Most likely, the truth

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. S. Manukov. Pepsi Cola for Nixon. How Donald Kendall fascinated Khrushchev and participated in the disarmament of the USSR
2. F. Lewis. Foreign Affairs: Soviets Buy American
3. M. Parks. Doing Business: Bloc-Buster Deal: Pepsico’s $ 3-Billion-Plus Soviet Expansion Was the ‘Deal of the Century.’ THE, The Deal Crumbled along with the Country. Here’s How Pepsi Put It Back Together