Kopper calls the Soviet Union's hard currency shortfalls "extremely acute" and predicts that Western aid will be too late to prevent a Soviet default .
The Kohl government and Germany's leading commercial banker, Deutsche Bank chief executive, Hilmar Kopper, are engaged in open warfare over the extent and implications of the Soviet financial crisis.
For his part, Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher -- an unreconstructed apologist for Soviet totalitarianism -- disputes Kopper's claims, labeling the assertions "dangerous and not objective" according to the 15 November New York Times.