Putin must return 91 tons of gold and rare coins, the European Union says

The European Commission reminded Russia that Romania is still waiting for the return of the national treasury.
Putin, as decided by Europe, must return 91 tons of gold, rare coins and other valuable goods that Romania had handed over to Russia to protect them from German occupation.
However, these were never returned, as agreed.
According to the Romanian-Russian protocol of December 14, 1916, signed by General Mosolov and Romanian Finance Minister Antonescu, the Imperial Government of Russia guaranteed the transportation, safekeeping and return of the treasure to Romania.
The debate on the theft of the national treasure has never subsided and shows, according to Romanian historians, the historical traumas experienced by citizens.
Over time, Russia has agreed several times to return at least part of the illicitly held assets, but nothing has ever been done to transfer the gold.
To date, after the resolution on the restitution signed by the European Parliament which asks Russia to return to Romania the national treasure given in custody, Dimitri Medvedev responded that the European leaders are "idiots" and that "Romanians are not a nation, but a lifestyle." read also This is how China replaced the EU in trade with Moscow EU resolution for the recovery of historic assets subject to illegal trafficking The European decision comes following the completion of the initiative for the recovery of historic assets of the member states.
Among these is also the national treasure of Romania.
This had been sent to Russia during the First World War to protect it from German occupation.
There are official documents that describe the practice of sending, storing and future returning the goods, which never actually happened.
PMP MEP Eugen Tomac was the initiator of the debate on the treasury issue.
The Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, underlined that Romania's treasury was transferred to the Tsarist Empire during the First World War for protection, but was never fully returned to Romania, neither by the USSR nor from the Russian Federation.
The Union stands ready to support the Romanian authorities and their efforts to obtain the full restitution of the treasure.
On the other hand, however, there is the absence of dialogue with Moscow, made even more complicated due to the war.
read also Should we hope for a Trump victory to avoid a third world war? What the National Treasury of Romania contains: History On December 11, 1916, General Mosolov signed, on behalf of the Government of Russia, a deed of guarantee regarding the security of the National Treasury of Romania.
As explained by historians Lorena Curriman and Violeta Popescu, 27 train carriages were loaded containing 1,738 boxes with gold ingots and objects, worth 314,580,456.84 lei in gold and two other boxes containing the jewels of Queen Mary, worth 7,000,000 lei in gold.
The first shipment had a value of 321,580,456.84 lei in gold.
A second load of three wagons was subsequently organised, containing 188 boxes, together with the funds of the Romanian Savings Bank, i.e.
another 1,621 boxes with the Bank's deposits and investments, but also jewellery, art collections and various precious objects , with a total value of 6,500,000,000.00 lei in gold (or 7,500,000,000.00 lei in gold according to some documents).
The confirmation comes directly from Moscow, which made an inventory of the deposit: 3,549 boxes which contained the entire gold reserves of the National Bank of Romania, the jewels of Queen Maria of Romania, the active accounts of the Credit and Savings Bank belonging to the private individuals, consisting of jewels, titles, documents, wills, paintings and much more.
The global total was estimated at 8,416,417,177.93 lei in gold (or 9,416,417,177.93 lei in gold according to some sources).
read also Macron takes us to war: what will Meloni do? What returned and what remained in Russia: the request for 91 tons to Putin As explained by the Italian-Romanian Cultural Center in Milan, the problem of the restitution of the Romanian Treasury was evoked during the peace negotiations held in Paris in the 1910s -1920, during the International Conferences of Genoa (1922) and Lausanne (1922), as well as during the Romanian-Soviet conversations in Copenhagen (1920), London (December 1920-January 1921), Warsaw (September 1921) and Vienna (March-April 1924).
Nothing was done to return the assets, at least until 1935.
They returned: historical documents, land deeds, property titles, books, practices and other private documents.
Problem: The chests had been broken into and private goods, such as jewellery, were missing.
Another shipment was shipped to Romania in 1956 with objects of artistic and historical value.
There are therefore 91.2 tons of gold left in Russia, worth 13 billion lei (3.2 billion euros).
read also Italy is already at war (Poland told us) Russia's response: what Medvedev said Regarding the debate on the theft of Romania's national treasure, a historic controversy but which still has consequences for the community, came the response from the vice president of the Russian Security Council, Dmitri Medvedev.
This one said that “Romanians, as you know, are not a nation, but a way of life”.
After insulting Romanians, he pointed the finger at European leaders, calling them "idiots, weak and useless".
According to Medvedev, gold was nationalized in 1918 by the Soviet authorities due to “Romania's bad behavior”.
After all, he says, Moscow did not ask for compensation for Bucharest's actions during the Nazi period.