[mikeyouse]

> I am not sure what "Soviet-era debt" has to do with it (that debt was very soft, was rolled over multiple times in the early 90s, and wasn't related to Russia's problems).

A large portion of their foreign denominated debt was from the Soviet era -- just a few years prior to 1998 they committed to repaying nearly $100 billion of that old debt. Russia was accepted into the "Paris Club" based on a valuation of their sovereign assets -- 1/4 of which were loans due to them from the Soviet era from Cuba/Vietnam and other satellite countries that had no capability to repay those loans. So the Soviet Era debt was a big portion of their liability and made up a substantial portion of their assets.

None of these things are remotely similar to the US situation of almost universally US debt denominated in USD. So I think GP is spot on when they say there's 0 chance of a currency crisis.