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Comrade Tassadar
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Of course.
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DanS
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Kickball Capital of the World
Jan 1970
time: 00:35
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quote:
By Maria Golovnina
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia wants to start talks with Japan to return billions of dollars worth of the last Czar's gold, which ended up in a Tokyo bank in the chaotic years of the Russian Civil War, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
The gold, shipped to Japan by "white army" commander Admiral Alexander Kolchak in the closing days of anti-Bolshevik resistance, remains an irritant to Moscow's warming relations with Tokyo along with a territorial dispute in the far east.
Tokyo and Moscow, which have yet to sign a peace treaty formally ending their World War II conflict, have made little progress on the fate of the Czarist gold since the issue sprang to the top of their bilateral agenda after the Soviet collapse.
But recently, Russia made "certain investigations and inquiries to the Japanese side," Interfax news agency quoted foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko as saying.
"The theme of the Russian gold in Japan is not a subject of diplomatic negotiations between our countries at the moment. But this does not mean the Russian foreign ministry is ignoring the issue," Yakovenko said.
"Russia and Japan are trying to build good, neighborly relations...Such trust calls to remove doubts and stop sweeping things under the carpet."
In 1994, Russia unearthed documents testifying that Admiral Kolchak, a "white" commander killed by the Bolsheviks in 1920, had sent at least 22 boxes filled with gold ingots to Japan for storage.
Researcher Vladlen Sirotkin, in a widely publicised study in 2000, said the gold was given to Japan in exchange for weapons, but Admiral Kolchak had received no military hardware.
Sirotkin estimated that, if interest is taken into account for the time the gold has been in Japan, it would now be worth $80 billion, similar to Russia's total gold and foreign currency reserves and enough to pay two-thirds of Russia's foreign debt.
Interfax said the bullion is now held at Japan's Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi. But diplomatic sources say a lack of evidence prevents Russia from turning it into a big diplomatic issue. Japan has not officially commented on the matter.
Russia has refused Japan's demand to return four small islands in the far east seized in the final days of World War II.
According to some estimates, Russia has claims to foreign property worth up to $400 billion, including tons of Czarist gold stored in Japanese, European and U.S. banks. |
Here's a more detailed article. Fascinating stuff.
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Sovereign
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Holy mother of god.
Russia and Japan are still at war, after nearly 60 years?
Why or what happened to cause them to forget to sign a treaty?
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All times are GMT. The time now is 05:35.
Apolyton Time is 00:35. |
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27-04-2004 07:38
That's a lot of money.
They want their gold back...Japan wants their islands back. If Russia gives back the Karafuto islands (Sakhalin), then Japan should give the gold back.
Japan herself doesn't pretend on Sakhalin even in her wildest dreams. The dispute is about the tiny Kuril Islands.
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