Arina Gon

In August 1918, the Bolsheviks, who kept the gold reserves of the Russian Empire in Kazan, decided to evacuate the gold from the city, but the swiftness of the attack on Kazan by Kappel mixed up the plans of the Soviet leadership, who managed to take out only 4.6 tons of gold (100 boxes) from Kazan. The trace of this money is lost, although in 1929 the OGPU organized an expedition near Kazan to search for them, the historian A. G. Mosyakin established .

On July 27, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars created a group for the evacuation of gold reserves from Kazan, consisting of K. P. Andrushkevich (head), N. V. Nakonechny, S. M. Izmailov. On the evening of July 28, 1918, the group was in Kazan. She had at her disposal several barges and steamers equipped in Nizhny Novgorod. It was necessary to withdraw about 80 thousand pounds of jewelry. Work was accelerated on laying access roads from the bank to the pier, transport was being established, and gold packaging was being checked. To protect the gold on the way, a convoy of 20 people was formed, headed by A. I. Bochkov, member of the Revolutionary Committee, Commissar of Finance of the Kazan Council.

Gold reserves in Kazan.

On behalf of V. I. Lenin, the chief commissioner of the People's Bank of the Republic, T. I. Popov, in mid-June 1918 ordered the Kazan branch of the State Bank to prepare for a possible evacuation of valuables. On June 27, in the midst of work, the manager of the Kazan branch of the People's Bank, Maryin, summoned the commander-in-chief Muravyov. He accused financial workers of alarmism and cowardice. The next morning, a reinforced detachment from Muravyov's personal guard stood at the bank building. In the first days of July, Muraviev tried to seize power in Kazan and take possession of the storerooms of the Kazan Bank.

According to the Riga Peace Treaty of 1921, 30 million gold rubles were to be transferred to Poland, but for various reasons this provision of the agreement was never implemented.

Under the terms of the Tartu Peace Treaty signed on February 2, 1920 between the RSFSR and Estonia, Estonia was paid 11.6 tons of gold in the amount of 15 million rubles.

According to the Soviet-Lithuanian peace treaty, signed on July 12, 1920, Lithuania was paid 3 million rubles in gold.

According to the Riga Peace Treaty of 1920, Latvia was paid 4 million rubles in gold (on payments by the RSFSR under the treaties of Germany, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, see: Mosyakin A.G. Gold of the Russian Empire and the Bolsheviks. 1917–1922.

After the signing of the Compiègne truce, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was broken. Under the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty, signed by Germany, all the financial consequences of the Brest Peace were canceled, and the gold delivered to Germany from Soviet Russia, under Article 259 of the Versailles Treaty, came under the control of the Entente, although its further fate was not determined. Russian gold was delivered to the Bank of France, where it was placed in storage.Under the 1997 Russo-French Financial Claims Settlement Agreement, Russia waived claims on gold left in France and claims related to the 1918-1922 intervention and paid France $400 million in compensation, while France waived debt repayment claims. on loans and bonds of the tsarist government.

After 1917.

After the revolution, the gold went to the Bolsheviks who seized power in the country. In addition to the reserves of the State Bank, about 200 tons of gold were confiscated from the population during the total confiscations in 1918–1922.

Payments under peace treaties.

In accordance with the 3rd article of the Russian-German supplementary (to Brest-Litovsk) agreement and the financial agreement attached to it, signed in Berlin on August 27, 1918 by representatives of Soviet Russia, on the one hand, and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary , Turkey and Bulgaria) - on the other hand, the RSFSR undertook to pay Germany an indemnity in credit notes and gold (245,564 kg).In September 1918, two “gold echelons” were sent from the gold depository in the former Nizhny Novgorod branch of the State Bank of Russia through Moscow and Orsha to the Reichsbank storerooms in Berlin, where 93.535 tons of gold worth 124.835 million rubles were loaded.

After the February Revolution, gold was also transported there from other cities: Voronezh, Tambov (in May 1918, gold stored in the Tambov branch of the State Bank arrived in Kazan), Samara (in June 1918), Kursk, Mogilev and Penza. As a result, more than half of the gold reserves of the Russian Empire were concentrated in Kazan.

Literally a few days before the October Revolution, gold bullion worth 5 million rubles was loaded onto a “special purpose” train and sent through Petrograd and Finland to Stockholm, the Swedish Riksbank.

In total, by the time the banks were seized by the Bolsheviks, taking into account the gold mined during the war, Russia's gold reserves amounted to 1,101 million rubles, or 852.5 tons of gold.

With the outbreak of the First World War, the question arose about the safety of the state gold reserves of the Russian Empire, located in Petrograd. To ensure safety, the evacuation of state treasures was planned.

The evacuation began in early 1915. From Petrograd, the valuables were taken by train to Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod.

During World War I.

At the beginning of World War I, Russia's gold reserves were the third largest in the world in terms of quantity and amounted to 1.695 billion rubles (1311 tons of gold, more than $60 billion at the exchange rate of the 2000s).

During the war, significant sums of gold were sent to England as a guarantee for war loans. In 1914, 75 million gold rubles (8 million pounds) were sent via Arkhangelsk to London.On the way, the ships of the convoy (cruiser Drake and transport Mantois) were damaged by mines and this route was considered dangerous. In 1915-1916, 375 million rubles in gold (40 million pounds) were sent by rail to Vladivostok, and then transported on Japanese warships to Canada (part of the British Empire) and placed in the vaults of the Bank of England in Ottawa. In February 1917, another 187 million gold rubles (20 million pounds) were sent via the same route through Vladivostok. These gold sums became a guarantee of British loans to Russia for the purchase of military equipment in the amount of 300 and 150 million pounds, respectively.

Before World War I.

According to the World Gold Council, at the beginning of 1913 the gold reserves of the Central Bank of Russia amounted to 1233 tons [source not specified 87 days]. According to the report of the State Bank, by the end of 1913 the gold reserve of the Russian Empire amounted to 1695 tons: 1312.5 tons - the centralized reserve of the State Bank, and 382.5 tons - monetary gold in commercial banks and in circulation among the population. As of January 1, 1914, 8,350 pounds of gold worth 167.4 million rubles were stored in foreign accounts of the State Bank of Russia, and the value of a Russian gold coin in circulation was 494.2 million rubles.

The gold reserve of the Russian Empire is gold in the form of Russian and foreign coins (including the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries), circles without obverse and reverse, stripes, ingots, as well as gold nuggets from the vaults of the St. Petersburg Mining Institute.

At the beginning of the First World War, the gold reserves of the Russian Empire were one of the largest in the world (after the USA and France).

In France, they amounted to 12.25 and 10 rubles (6.5%), respectively; in Germany - 12.97 and 9.64 rubles (7.7%); in the UK - 26.75 and 15.86 rubles (13.7%). In 1913, Russia's most important trading partners were Germany (29.8% of Russian exports and 47.5% of imports) and Great Britain (17.6 and 12.6%, respectively). In Asia in 1913, Russia's largest trading partners were China (2.1% of Russian exports and 6.1% of imports) and Iran (3.8 and 3.3%, respectively).

In 1914, with the fall in prices, the average wage of a worker was already 47 rubles. per month - from 51 rubles. in mechanical engineering up to 43 rubles. in the manufacturing industry. The technician received 150 rubles. per month, and the engineer 240 rubles. per month.

Taxes in the empire were significantly lower than in other countries. Direct taxes per 1 inhabitant in the Russian Empire amounted to 3 rubles. 11 kopecks, and indirect - 5 rubles. 98 kopecks (7.2% of annual income).