3/18/99 - Russia justified to press matter of Czar"s gold.
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NEW York, March 18 (Itar-Tass) - Now that financiers cast about the ways to resolve the problems of Russia"s indebtedness, "Czar"s gold", the gold and currency kept on the accounts of foreign banks prior to the October revolution, come to mind again. Tass asked historian, Prince Alexei Shcherbatov, the marshal of the Russian nobility in North America, to comment on the situation. Shcherbatov has been studying the matter of "Czar"s gold" over many years.
The historian believes it is necessary to distinguish between the funds that belonged to the Czar"s family and those of the Czar"s government. Emperor Alexander II indeed put 10-15 million sterling on the account in the Bank of London, but these funds were almost fully withdrawn by Russia three or four years prior to the First World War. The industry was then burgeoning in Russia.
The Russian governments -- the Czar"s government and later the provisional government -- kept huge funds on accounts in Great Britain, France and the United States. The funds were remitted there mostly to purchase armaments. At different estimates, up to 80 million dollars were kept on account in the United States and approximately 50 million on accounts in London. This was not the money of the Czar"s family as its transfer abroad was sanctioned in the Duma.
When the Bolsheviks came to power in Russia, these funds gradually began to disappear, Shcherbatov said. It was not immediately after the revolution that the French and English froze the Russian assets. London did this much faster than Paris and Washington, and, perhaps, there is reason to mention Britain, first of all, when talking about the "Czar"s money", Shcherbatov said. He believes the money was most probably "appropriated" by those who had the right to deal with the accounts of the provisional government abroad.
"I am not a lawyer, but I believe that by logic Russia now has the right to raise the matter of the Czar"s government"s funds again and demand that the problem be solved," Shcherbatov said. |
