In 1991, 11 billion disappeared from the vaults of the State Bank. In addition, the gold reserve, which at that time was 240 tons, disappeared without a trace. As it turned out later, 240 tons is a shockingly small figure.
In 1985, the gold fund contained about 2,400 tons of the precious metal. In six years, the treasures have literally evaporated. Neither the Russian special services, nor the detectives of the elite American agency could find the "Gold of the Party".
Fatal gold and foreign exchange reserves
"Party gold" is surrounded by a halo of strange deaths. Since the collapse of the USSR in 1991, there have been three bizarre suicides in a row. In the summer, under the windows of their house, they found Nikolai Kruchina, the manager of the CPSU Central Committee. He oversaw the party's deposits in foreign banks. After him in October, Georgy Pavlov jumped out of the window, who held a similar position before Kruchina. Ten days later, Dmitry Lisovolik, the head of the US sector of the CPSU Central Committee, died tragically. The investigation established that all three cases were suicides.
“Party gold” continued to “execute” people even a few years after the collapse of the USSR, when no one knew where the real wealth of the Union was. In 1994, the photographer of the magazine "Soviet Union" Yuri Korolev was killed, in 1996 the body of the former KGB colonel Leonid Kucheruk was found. According to reports, the victims were tortured. It is believed that they knew too much about the fate of the gold and foreign exchange reserve.
USSR gold reserves
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How did the Soviet government accumulate such an impressive amount: 2,400 tons of gold and 11 billion US dollars? The influx of funds into the USSR treasury was impressive. All party members, and in 1985 there were about 20 million people, regularly paid dues. Part of the money went to the maintenance of the state apparatus, part of it went to the "storage". In addition, the CPSU made money by selling communist literature.
Money was also transferred to the reserve from the Soviet Peace Fund, which was formed from voluntary donations. It should not be forgotten that in the USSR, churches and temples paid taxes. Numerous cash "streams" have turned the treasury into a huge storehouse. For reliability, the funds were exchanged for gold bars on the foreign market.
Where did the state gold reserve go?
Neither Russian prosecutors nor American detectives could find the "gold of the party". All traces were cut off. In 1992, Deputy Prime Minister of the RSFSR Yegor Gaidar hired detectives from the elite American agency Kroll - the best detectives of that time, specializing in finding money. The Deputy Prime Minister paid 500 thousand rubles for the services. The agents found insignificant amounts and established indirect connections of some persons with the gold and foreign exchange reserves. However, Kroll requested another 500,000 for further investigation. The Russian leadership refused the detectives.
Today there are three main versions of the disappearance of the "party gold". Before the collapse of the USSR, gold and currency could be transferred to foreign banks, in which the Soviet Union was on the list of partners. However, then the operations would have to be entrusted to foreign specialists. Gold could be exported abroad by Russian couriers. It is difficult to imagine how many messengers are needed to transfer 240 tons of gold, and even imperceptibly.
The most widespread version says that gold and currency were not exported anywhere at all. After the collapse of the USSR, the precious metal turned into capital. In fact, it was no longer the Soviet CPSU, but the first capitalists of the state scale. The ideas of the Union were destroyed, and the country was sliding towards private property. It was from the "gold of the party" that the first cooperatives, semi-state enterprises and innovative youth centers arose. Thus, the gold and foreign exchange reserves simply disappeared in the accounts of new firms and in the pockets of successful businessmen.
Irina Krymskaya
