Romania demands gold from Russia, which was given to it back in tsarist times

Romania demands that Russia return its gold reserves, which were taken to Moscow during the tsarist times. On Thursday, the European Parliament joined her demand and adopted the corresponding resolution. We are talking about more than 90 tons of gold in the form of coins and bars.

The gold reserve of the Romanian National Bank was transferred to Russia for safekeeping in 1916-1917 by the Romanian government, which was concerned about its safety during the First World War. After the October Revolution, the Bolshevik government seized valuables, and after the break of diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Romania in 1918, refused to return them. After the Second World War, part of the valuables was returned, but in recent years, Romania has been seeking the return of the rest.

In its resolution, the European Parliament calls on Russia to fully return the remaining part of the gold, and also calls on the European Commission and the European External Relations Service to include the issue of the restitution of Romania’s national property in the bilateral diplomatic priorities governing relations between the EU and Russia.

There is no accurate information about where the Romanian gold transferred to Russia is kept, only unconfirmed versions. As RBC writes, one of the versions says that in the summer of 1918, the Bolsheviks sent Romanian gold to Kazan, where it, along with other valuables, including the remains of the Russian Empire’s own gold reserves, fell into the hands of Admiral Alexander Kolchak. After the execution of the admiral in 1920, part of the so-called “gold of Kolchak” was never found.