Isarescu: Romania Asserts Full Ownership of Evacuated Gold Treasure Deposited in Moscow

The governor of the National Bank of Romania stated on Monday at a specialized symposium that Romania has a fully valid historical and legal claim over its gold deposit evacuated to Moscow in 1916-1917. Joining the Allies in August 1916 within WWI, Romania soon faced an extremely challenging situation due to battles on two fronts in Transylvania and along the Danube. Therefore, as early as September 1916, the National Bank of Romania took the first measures to secure its gold treasury.

“This year marks 107 years since Romania’s treasury was evacuated to Moscow in December. Since 1991, the National Bank of Romania has consistently implemented a strategy to present to the domestic and international public the issue of the treasury sent to Moscow and subsequently seized by the Soviet Union. A more than century-old claim of Romania. This is not our first action in this direction. Upon Russia’s accession to the Council of Europe in 1995, Romania, along with other former communist states, presented proposals for the restitution of assets confiscated by the Soviet Union. At that time, the Council’s committee on legal affairs and human rights recognized that these issues should be resolved among the interested member states.

Russia did not accept this discussion even at the expert level, under the pretext that Moscow was discussing a draft law on the restitution of material assets belonging to other states that were deposited in the USSR during the war. 

Subsequently, the Russian experts’ cited draft law was rejected by the State Duma of Russia. This development made it clear that there was a need to inform the international public accurately based on indisputable documents. 

This meant informing historians, researchers, politicians, diplomats, and ultimately European decision-makers. 

Consequently, our main concern, I say, the concern of the National Bank, was to make known the documents we hold regarding this issue. I am referring to the original documents, emphasizing original, compiled in the special file kept in the safe of the Governor of the National Bank since 1922.

The Treasury file has been handed down from one governor to another since 1922, including during the communist period. I received it as well—as evidence of the National Bank of Romania’s determination to recover its assets. The Director of the Iasi branch of the National Bank received instructions to wait for Director Theodor Căpitanovici at the station on “Thursday, September 8, five o’clock in the afternoon,” to prepare carriages and reserve five rooms at the hotel,” said Isarescu.

Historical context

During the WWI, due to the advance of the Central Powers’ troops toward Bucharest, the Royal Family, the Government, Parliament, and other central institutions of the Romanian state sought refuge in Iași.
In the Moldavian city, which became the capital of national resistance, the headquarters of the National Bank of Romania was also relocated starting from November 14, 1916. As winter approached in 1916, two-thirds of the national territory were occupied by the Central Powers’ armies. The Romanian army, withdrawn to new alignments, was to undergo reconstruction, and a significant part of the population had moved to the eastern part of the country, enduring not only the harsh winter conditions but also facing famine and diseases.
The Romanian government and representatives of the National Bank signed a convention with the representative of the Russian Empire in Iași, outlining the conditions for the first transport to Moscow. According to this agreement, Romanian assets were “under the guarantee of the Russian government regarding the security of transport, the security of the deposit, and the return to Romania.”