Судьба «румынского золота» в России 1916–2020. Очерки истории

Признания румынской стороной возврата Россией некоторой части «румынского золота» сегодня единичны и непопулярны, прогнозы на будущее пессимистичны. В декабре 2012 г. на одном из старейших румынских новостных сайтов Hotnews.ro появилась следующая констатация: «Если межвоенной, а затем социалистической Румынии удалось вернуть кое-что из золотого запаса и различные культурные объекты, то сегодня президент Владимир Путин, похоже, не намерен вернуть нам ни единого золотника». Заслуживает внимания и объяснение, даваемое авторами материала своим соотечественникам: «Если поставить себя на место русских, разве вам захотелось бы возвращать богатство какому-то маленькому народу, который, по вашему мнению, неоднократно вставлял вам палки в колеса и будет делать это и дальше? Нет!»[566]. Сегодня многие румыны считают себя обиженными восточной соседкой. Они считают, что Россия, не имея на то никаких оснований, присвоила «румынское золото». Тезис о том, что с «Румынией несправедливо обошлись», определяет патриотический мейнстрим современной румынской историографии.

Вместе с тем в ходе работы общественной комиссии по изучению спорных вопросов двусторонних отношений пришло ясное понимание, что решение вопроса о возвращении «румынского золота» зависит не столько от научных дискуссий, сколько от политической воли правящих элит.

Summary

The history of Romanian gold exported to Russia during the First World War is full of mysteries, secrets, myths. Despite the fact that the problem of Romanian gold is one of the key issues in relations between the two countries, for various reasons it still has not received its final decision and up to now there is no monograph on this matter in Russian science.

During the First World War, Romania was under the threat of occupation by the countries of the Fourth Union: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey. The government and the National Bank of Romania, fearing that the national gold fund could be captured by the enemy, decided to evacuate the gold, Queen Mary’s jewels and other property (e.g., national historical, cultural and artistic values, property of monasteries and individuals, archives, bank papers) to Russia under the guarantees of the Tsar (and subsequently the Provisional government).

This cargo was sent to Russia by two trains. The first train left on December 14^th (27) from the Iasi station and arrived in Moscow on December 21 (January 3, 1917). 1.738 boxes with gold coins and gold ingots in the amount of 314.580.456 gold lei and 2 chests with Queen Mary’s jewels worth another 7 Million gold lei were dispatched.

Gold was placed in the storerooms of the Moscow Kremlin. Each room had doors with different locks. It was only possible to get into the storerooms with both keys, one of which was kept by the Russian representative and the other by the Romanian representative.

Despite the deterioration of the political situation in Russia after the 1917 February Revolution and the ongoing collapse of the Romanian front, the Romanian government decided to send a second train to Moscow. The valuation of property, which arrived in Moscow, was made without any inventory, based on a verbal statement by a representative of the National Bank of Romania in the amount of 6.5 billion gold lei, which was equal to 2,495,000,000 gold rubles at the time. Up until October 1917, 101 boxes of valuables were transferred to the Romanian side and the Romanian gold reserve decreased by 444,000 gold rubles.

The February and October revolutions in 1917, followed by the establishment of the Soviet regime in Russia, have affected the fate of Romanian gold in Moscow. After the breakup of diplomatic relations with Romania in January 1918 owing to the seizure of Bessarabia by Romanian troops, the Soviet government stated that it was no longer responsible for the Romanian gold stored in Russia.

According to the estimates of the Soviet state commissions created in 1918 to investigate damages caused by the Romanian army and the Romanian authorities, the total damages exceeded all the debts of Romania, including the gold reserve and valuables stored in Moscow.

During the civil war, in 1918, the Soviet government decided to evacuate the gold reserve from St. Petersburg to Nizhny Novgorod and from Moscow to Kazan, respectively. Together with the Russian gold, Romanian gold was also sent to Kazan. It is possible that some of the gold was kept in other cities.

Gold stored in Kazan was subsequently sent to Samara, then to Ufa, then to Irkutsk, and finally to Omsk, where it fell into the hands of the White Guard Kolchak government. It is possible that some of the gold was stolen while en route as well.