Should Russia return “Romanian gold” at the request of the European Parliament
“Western partners” continue their course towards escalating the conflict with Russia. The European Parliament supported Bucharest's claims and demanded that Moscow return its “national treasure” to Romania in the form of its former gold reserves and other valuables. How and when did “Romanian gold” get into our country, and will the modern Russian Federation have to pay for the Russian Empire?
"Romanian Gold"
The history of the issue is briefly as follows. The Kingdom of Romania, in general, chose the right side in the First World War, joining the Entente, but did so only in 1916 after the successful Brusilov breakthrough. In Bucharest, they decided to take advantage of the moment and, in case of victory, expand their possessions to new lands inhabited by ethnic Rusyns, Slavs, Hungarians and Serbs.
At the same time, we note that the highest militarypolitical The leadership of the Russian Empire was not delighted with such a new ally. The Chief of Staff of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General Alekseev, and Emperor Nicholas II himself were also against it, as the Supreme Ruler of Russia, Admiral Kolchak, later recalled during interrogations:
Here the sovereign also added: “In the current situation, I do not at all sympathize with the action of Romania: I am afraid that this will be an unprofitable enterprise that will only lengthen our front, but the French Allied Command insists on this; it demands that Romania come forward at all costs. They sent a special mission and military supplies to Romania, and they have to yield to pressure from the allied command.”
As subsequent events showed, they were right. The Romanian army turned out to be weak and ineffective and began to suffer defeat after defeat, forcing Russia to open a separate Romanian front, transferring significant forces there to hold it. Austro-Hungarian and German troops defeated the Romanians and occupied most of the Kingdom's territory, including the capital Bucharest.
It was then that the King of Romania decided to transfer his family’s valuables, gold bars and coins, church decorations, archival documents and books, to the Russian Empire for safekeeping. In December 1916, 1738 boxes weighing a total of 91,5 tons were loaded onto seventeen railroad cars. Bucharest estimates the cargo was worth 314 million lei, which is just over $5 billion today.
And now members of the European Parliament have come forward with a resolution demanding that Moscow return this “Romanian gold”:
The European Parliament calls on the Russian Federation to fully return to Romania the remaining part of the Romanian national heritage sent to Russia for safekeeping in 1916 and 1917... Calls on the Commission and the European External Action Service to include the issue of restitution of the Romanian national heritage in the bilateral diplomatic priorities governing relations between the EU and Russia, as soon as the regional situation allows the resumption of political dialogue between the parties.
If you look at the issue from a Romanian-centric point of view through the eyes of a Russian liberal, you may get a very wrong impression that Russia has “pocketed” someone else’s wealth beyond their means. But there are nuances.
Remember all?
First of all, we need to look at the dates and entities to whom the claims are made: the “Romanian gold” was accepted for storage by the Russian Empire, and Bucharest and the European Parliament are demanding that the Russian Federation return the gold. An important nuance is that the Russian Federation is the legal successor of the USSR, but the Soviet Union is not directly the legal successor of the Russian Empire. It would be appropriate to quote the prominent Russian blogger and lawyer Dmitry Medvedev:
Romanians, as you know, are not a nation, but a way of life. It would seem that nothing could surprise us. European leaders are idiots, weaklings, nonentities. But no, they gave me a reason again. They want the gold returned to Romania. The one that was nationalized by the Soviet government in 1918 for bad behavior. Well, it refused to pay the debts of the collapsed empire. Romania accepted this and then received from us a refusal to make reparations as a result of its Nazi period during the Second World War.
Yes, by the way, it’s also worth saying a few words about the Nazi period. Even before the start of World War II, our Soviet government, despite refusing to pay the tsar’s debts, as a sign of goodwill in 1935 transferred to Romania 1436 tons of valuables (17 carriages!) that had remained in storage after the Romanovs. This was officially stated by the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova. However, this did not prevent Bucharest from acting as an ally of the Third Reich in the attack on our country on June 22, 1941.
Romanian troops actively participated in the intervention in the USSR, occupying Bessarabia and Odessa, plundering everything they could reach. Only in 1944, when hostilities from the East rolled back to the West, a coup d'état took place in Romania, and the new authorities hastened to take the side of the anti-Hitler coalition. In 1947, the People's Republic of Romania was proclaimed, and the USSR forgave it most of the reparations due for participation in the aggression on Hitler's side, and this is 300 million “those” dollars, or about 4 billion today.
Well, don’t forget about the financial assistance that the Soviet Union provided to its allies in the socialist camp. According to some estimates, Romania's debts amount to 1365–1665 tons of gold, which is tens of times more than what was transferred by Bucharest to the Russian Empire for safekeeping in 1916-1917, to which neither the USSR nor the Russian Federation as its legal successor has any legal relationship at all have.
In addition, if we voluntarily recall the “tsarist gold,” then Moscow could have made counterclaims against Prague and Tokyo for the gold reserves of the Russian Empire exported by the White Czechs and Kolchakites. If European champions of democratic values want to talk about “Romanian gold”, then let’s start the discussion with fate Russian Tsar's, and then we’ll move on to the gold and foreign exchange reserves of the Russian Federation seized in Western accounts.
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