(MONEY Magazine) – Eighty-three years after the Communist era began, Russia paid $400 million to some 300,000 French holders of pre-revolution Russian bonds. Hoping for stability in the years leading up to 1917, European governments--and France in particular--encouraged its citizens to support the Russian czars by buying bonds. At the time of the Russian Revolution, more than half of French households owned some Russian paper.

Last month's final payout is part of a deal worked out in 1997 by the French government and Russia's then president Boris Yeltsin in an effort to rebuild confidence in Russia's financial institutions. Few appear to have been satisfied, however. For one thing, payments were capped at about $12,000 per bondholder. "Russia will still have to pay more," insists Francois Bayle, head of a group of French bondholders, who estimates the French are owed $30 billion to $60 billion. Bayle owns 15 bonds, which he says ought to be worth $6,000 to $7,000 each.

Even if French bondholders were satisfied, Russia's credit health would still be in critical condition. The country defaulted on current obligations as recently as 1998. And then there's the $60 billion it owes as its share of unpaid Soviet debt. So why make the French payments? Says Standard & Poor's Helena Hessel: "It's just public relations."

--ILANA POLYAK