Russia repudiated the tsar's bonds, France settled for $400 million in 1997, and the holders' association tried to seize a Russian sailing ship and a cathedral

From 1888 to 1914 Paris sold Russian Empire loans to French savers. The first large issue, on 10 December 1888, was 500 million francs at 4 percent. About 15 billion gold francs went in over thirty years. After the 1917 revolution the Soviet government repudiated the Empire's debts. A French census recorded 1.6 million individual claims by 31 December 1919, for 8.94 billion gold francs of face value. The bonds stayed in family drawers and passed to children and grandchildren. Britain settled with the USSR in 1986, and British holders received 54.78 percent of face value. On 27 May 1997 France and Russia signed an agreement: Russia paid $400 million, both states dropped claims older than 9 May 1945, and France promised not to support private holders' claims. In a 1998 census 316,219 French holders came forward with 9.2 million bonds. A 2000 decree capped each holder's payment at 97,938 francs. The holders' association AFIPER refused the deal. In 2002 it tried to seize the Russian training ship Sedov in Marseille; the ship sailed before the bailiffs arrived. On 20 January 2010 a Nice court ruled that Russia owned the St Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral, built with tsarist money, and AFIPER studied seizing it. Euronext delisted the bonds on 19 October 2007. On 6 November 2019 the Cour de cassation held that the 1906 and 1908 loans were sovereign acts covered by state immunity. Holders may still sue in Russian courts.