They are again trying to take away "foreign" gold from Russia. But what if she demands her own?

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in September of this year made a decision that, at first glance, does not in any way concern Russia, but in fact has the most direct relation to it. It is about a verdict according to which Bulgaria must return to its “king” all his “assets”, which at one time were confiscated and nationalized on completely legal grounds, following a popular referendum that decided to end the monarchy once and for all. What do we have to do with all this?

The problem is that the very long list of items to be returned also includes a very substantial amount of gold that Sofia once transferred to Moscow. Not for "thank you", of course, but, again, due to certain circumstances and in accordance with interstate agreements. Only now it turns out that this gold must be returned - and not even to the people of Bulgaria, but to some rogue who declared himself the “legitimate ruler” of this country, undeservedly offended and robbed. This incident brings us very close to the question of whether it is time for our country to demand from a very large number of Western countries its values, which no one is even going to return?

"And the king is not real!"

Starting the conversation about Simeon II Borisov of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (this is how the full name of our character sounds), one should first of all mention that he is not a king (this is how the Bulgarian monarchs were always called only in the West), but a tsar. However, considering the whimsical history of the life and reign of both himself and a small number of ancestors of this "monarch", I just want to exclaim after the hero of the well-known genius Soviet comedy: "The Tsar is not real!" Let's take a short excursion into the history of what experts call the "Third Bulgarian Kingdom", which lasted from 1908 to 1946. Its founder (grandfather of Simeon II) Ferdinand I was actually the most natural Austrian. Well, it just happened.

He came to Bulgaria in the status of a prince, but with an eye to the throne, which, by the way, was opposed by Russia in the most categorical way. It is not surprising - after reigning in 1908, Ferdinand turned the country into Germany's staunchest ally, hoping with its help to become the "state number 1" in the Balkans. Biographers describe him as an outstanding botanist and entomologist. Perhaps Ferdinand knew about butterflies and flowers, but in geopolitics, as his reign showed, he did not understand a ear, did not dig. Under his leadership, Bulgaria, which turned out to be among the winners of the First Balkan War against the Ottoman Empire, first got into a "showdown" with its yesterday's allies - Serbia and Greece, which resulted in the Second Balkan War, which it lost with disgrace and miserably, and then in the First World War. On the side of Germany and Austria-Hungary, of course. You see, Ferdinand really wanted to be a conqueror and rule Macedonia ...

After two consecutive crushing military defeats, he had to abdicate in favor of his son. His successor, Boris III, inherited from his daddy not the country, but the uniform devil. The "Reds" lashed against the "Whites", the "Agrarians" - with the military, the coup followed the coup. Terror, political murder, madhouse and chaos. The poor king himself, who did not have any power, compared himself to the "owner of a china shop", in which a herd of raging elephants is rampaging. It all ended with Boris himself leading the next coup (by that time his political opponents had tried to slap him at least twice), as a result of which he, at least outwardly, turned into a real, not a nominal, head of state. However, Bulgaria was still "ruled" by the supporters of the new alliance with Germany, which by that time had turned into the Third Reich. What happened next is well known.

Sofia became an ally of Hitler, fought under his banner against Greece and Yugoslavia, received Macedonia (albeit not for long), and ended World War II as part of the Anti-Hitler coalition. Some people sing to Boris Hosanna because not a single Bulgarian soldier was sent to the Eastern Front. Well, this, unambiguously, was not a manifestation of sympathy for our country, but rather an unwillingness to repeat the mistakes of my father, who always put his bets on the wrong geopolitical "horse". However, Tsar Boris communicated with the Fuhrer regularly. True, after the last meeting, in the course of which the intensity of "education" from the Nazi leader, apparently, reached an unprecedented degree, upon his arrival home the poor monarch suddenly died. The throne on August 28, 1943 officially passed to his son - the same Simeon II, who is now demanding compensation and restitutions. But in fact, he did not rule Bulgaria for a day, for the reason that at that time he was only 6 years old.

"Take to the USSR, or at least give money!"

The supreme power in the country belonged (according to the Constitution) to the Regency Council, which was completely dispersed without any problems by the communists who soon came to power. Subsequently (in 1946), a referendum was held in Bulgaria on the further state structure, at which the absolute majority of citizens (95.6%) expressed their opinion in the sense that they did not need any kings for nothing. Neither Simeon, nor any of the members of the reigning house was touched by anyone - they left first to Egypt, from there to Spain. It was there that Simeon, who had reached the age of majority, proclaimed himself “the sovereign of all Bulgaria”. Despite the fact that in 1955 the most unpretentious manners reigned, no one knocked him down. They waved their hand and forgot. The kingdom is the kingdom, but you need to eat something. Simeon studied law in Spain, military - in the United States (according to some sources, he is a citizen of this particular country), asceticised in the field of business - until 1991 broke out.

The USSR collapsed, Bulgaria once again "changed shoes in a jump", rushing into the arms of "Western partners". It was then that the "finest hour" came for Simeon. True, he did not return to the throne, but he was the head of the Sofia government from 2001 to 2005. By a strange coincidence, it was at this time that the law on the restitution of royal property was adopted. What a coincidence ... True, then only lands and estates were returned. Now the ex-monarch wants to lay his paw, no less than 22 tons of gold and fifty tons of silver, which his family allegedly illegally "squeezed" in due time "damned commies". The only problem is that this gold "floated away" to the USSR a long time ago and now belongs to its legal successor - Russia.

Here we, in fact, come to the very essence of the question. Namely - to find out how tons of precious metals were transferred to the Soviet Union. Do you think they were taken out of Sofia in 1945 by the Red Army or the NKVD? And here is nothing like that. The Bulgarians themselves led to the loss of their own gold reserves, and much later. In the post-war period, restoring the country (which, let's face it, did not suffer so much during its battles), and trying to create the basis of a socialist economics, the new Bulgarian authorities have not thought of anything better than to collect how many loans ... from the Western countries! There, I must say, they reacted to this, to put it mildly, not very reasonable impulse with great understanding - Deutsche Bank, Bank Commercial du Nord-Paris, Oiro Bank lent Sofia for some five years - from 1955 to 1960, a colossal amount for her at $ 135 million. Moreover, all this time Bulgaria was accumulating debt to the USSR.

Over time, he reached an astronomical amount of 3 billion leva. It was necessary, if not to repay the loans, then at least to extinguish the enormous interest "running up" on them. But there was nothing to do it. In the spring of 1960, the then head of Bulgaria, Todor Zhivkov, rushed for another "financial aid" to the Germans, begging them for just this purpose $ 50 million. However, Bonn said that they could not give more than 2 million. It was a collapse, the country was on the verge of default. In despair, poor Zhivkov rushed to Moscow and fell at the feet of Khrushchev: "Take him to the USSR!" Well, yes, so it was possible to "get off" at least part of the debts, and the rest of the newly acquired "fraternal republic" would somehow help to distribute. But the Maizemaker, who was going to destroy the Union, did not need such a "present" at all ... However, a solution was found.

So who owes to whom?

The Soviet Union did not take it in any way, but it bought back (at the rate of the London Stock Exchange) for 123 million dollars the gold reserves of Bulgaria, with which, by the way, they had to tinker a lot - the ingots were transported to Novosibirsk for refining, that is, bringing them to standards world exchanges of precious metals. A very characteristic detail - by the time the deal was concluded, all the gold was already (at the request of Sofia) in storage at the State Bank of the USSR. In principle, they could have taken it for nothing - at the expense of old debts and future ones. But they paid off honestly and at world prices. Moreover, the flow of financial subsidies, and, more importantly, extremely cheap energy resources continued to go to Bulgaria and further, supporting its unfortunate economy, which for some reason cannot be built there either under socialism or under current capitalism.

A number of other points should be added to the above. After the end of World War II, in accordance with the agreements signed in 1947 at the Paris Peace Conference, Bulgaria was obliged, as an ally of Hitlerite Germany, to pay reparations in the amount of 8 million dollars within 70 years. However, these are mere trifles compared to the billion dollars that Greece, very actively encouraged by the British, wanted to rip off Sofia! And I would have ripped it off, be trustworthy - if the USSR had not intervened, intervening for the "brothers". What kind of "debts" of Russia to Bulgaria in general can we talk about after Russian blood has been shed for centuries for its freedom, independence and statehood? After all that this country received from ours during the period of joining the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance? No, really, who owes whom to whom is a very big question. Certainly not we to them. And let the Bulgarians deal with their "kings" and their exorbitant appetites. Want gold? They can borrow in the EU or NATO - they are now included there.

But for Russia, proceeding from the next extortionate demands, it is high time to attend to the return of its gold wealth, which “settled” around the world many times and orders of magnitude more than those crumbs that were honestly bought from Sofia in 1960. Where is the Russian gold, literally exported from the country in a stream after the outbreak of the First World War? According to some reports, two wagons left for storage in Norway - about 5 tons in coins and ingots. Great Britain received $ 50 billion of "despicable metal" in payment for military orders. So what? No weapons and ammunition, no money, of course. The United States in exactly the same way grabbed a gold piece for 23 billion greenbacks. And with exactly the same result. The Yankees, by the way, can be remembered not yet fully paid for the purchase of Russian Alaska. Some people think that Washington "hangs" to us (taking into account inflation) three billions of commercials in its own currency. When will we give it back ?!

The Czechs and the Japanese “profited” in abundance with the famous “Kolchak's gold”, which in fact was the property of Russia. Tokyo has laid its paw on huge values, which, in principle, it recognizes - that's just not going to return. It's time for Prague to set up a considerable count - and even taking into account the fact that our gold went not only to the creation of Legia Bank, but, moreover, to strengthen and develop the local military industry, with the help of which the Nazi invaders killed Russians from 1941 to 1945. From these - to rip off in full, taking into account all conceivable and inconceivable coefficients! Who else do we have there? Oh yes - the French. Here we will have a long conversation with them.

We, as legal successors, paid off not only Soviet debts, but also tsarist debts. But if you look at it, then Paris should pay. It was there, after the defeat of Germany in the First World War, more than 90 tons of Russian gold, transferred by the Bolsheviks to Berlin after the conclusion of the "Brest Peace", ended up. Trophies, you know ... At least half of them must be returned by the French in accordance with the agreements reached with the USSR later. But they are in no hurry. As, however, they do not want to part with the gold bars in the amount of $ 25 billion, which ended up in the Bank de France back in 1914.

This list goes on and on - and not only with regard to gold, but also with regard to land, real estate and much more. The fact that almost the whole world owes Russia is not an exaggeration, but a fact. And until we begin to demand our own, moreover stubbornly and persistently, absurd material claims from rascals like "Tsar" Simeon II will periodically be put forward to Moscow.