How did the Soviet Union pay for $3 billion worth of Pepsi products in 1989?

...would give Pepsi a fleet of naval vessels that they no longer needed or could afford to maintain.

1989: The year soda company Pepsi briefly became a naval superpower...

...how Pepsi acquired and sold a navy of warships and submarines from the Soviet Union in exchange for its fizzy beverage.

[Pepsi] became the owner of 17 submarines, a cruiser, a frigate, and a destroyer.

According to some estimates, this made Pepsi's navy the sixth-largest in the world at that time, surpassing those of countries like Australia and Spain.

Of course, Pepsi had no intention of keeping or operating these ships. It quickly sold them to a Swedish company for scrap metal, making a profit of about $3 million.