Returning Romania’s national treasure appropriated by Russia takes front-row seat in EU debates


MAY 2, 2024
By Cristian Gherasim, Bucharest Correspondent



In March, the European Parliament called on Russia to return Romania’s national treasure that was sent to Moscow for safekeeping during War World I. The numerous attempts by Romanian authorities to get the treasure back came to nothing. Some cultural items were returned by Soviet authorities in 1935 and 1956 — but not the gold.

In 2003, a joint commission was set up between Romania and Russia to improve bilateral relations, and also work on the issue of gold.

Over the past century, there have been two international documents adopted that compel Russia to return the treasure back to Romania. The first one was during the Genoa Conference of 1922 with little to no effect, and the second one happened a month ago in the European Parliament where MEPs adopted a resolution on the return of the Romanian national treasure.

Cristian Terheş one of the signatories of the European Parliament resolution argued that Romania’s national heritage needs to be returned unconditionally. “We demand the immediate and unconditional return of the Romanian national treasure, which has been illegally in Russian possession for over 100 years, as well as compensation and current interest for the fact that the Romanian nation has not been able to enjoy and use this treasure in its own interest, to which it rightfully belongs”, Terheş told EU Reporter.

The Romanian MEP went on to say that Romania’s case is not unique with Russia having seized assets from other parts such as Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia. He concluded that this attitude continues to this day and is reinforced by the regime in Moscow.

This view was backed by other MEPs like former Romanian president Traian Basescu, as well as representatives from the S&D Group, PPE, Renew and the ECR Group.

One Romania MEP and ex-EU commissioner, Corina Creţu, said that the resolution was adopted by the vast majority of Members of the European Parliament.

The issue has always been dismissed as trivial and treated jokingly by the Russian side. For example Victor Vladimirovich Iscenko, Secretary of the Joint Commission, Deputy Director of the Institute of Universal History of the Academy of Sciences of the Russian Federation said some time ago that the gold has vanished and that all traces are gone. Other Russian researchers argued that of all the problems, that of the Romanian treasury holds the least traction and is not considered the most important, saying that Russia is probably trying not to create a precedent so that claims do not arise from other countries. He said he does not see, neither now nor in the future, that a Russian leadership would start giving something back to Romania.

The debate does indeed emerge quite frequently in the Romanian public debate. Recently the head of the Romanian National Bank said that it backs the initiative of the Romanian MEPs and that Romania’s demands are legitimate. The governor of the National Bank explained that Russia did not accept this discussion even at the level of experts, under the pretext that Moscow was supposed to be discussing the restitution of material goods belonging to other states, which, during the war, were stored in the USSR, a state entity which ceased to exist.