Treasure hunt on an international scale

TAGS:Asia, Russia, SciTech, Thrills&Spills, HistoryRussian parliamentarians and historians have a new lead in the search for the legendary gold of the Tsar's family. According to the new discovery, the whole treasure, or part of it, may be in Japan.Since the end of the First World War, the mystery of the Tsar’s gold has been consuming the minds of many. Legend has it that Admiral Kolchak was the last known keeper of the Tsar’s treasure. As the most prominent commander of the anti-Bolshevik forces, Kolchak was given charge of the Tsar’s gold reserves, which he passionately protected. It is believed the Russian admiral traveled abroad with the precious metal and funded his army with some of the gold. But when he was captured and killed, the secret of the gold’s location died with him.And after nearly 100 years, enthusiasts, as well as government officials, are still searching for the lost treasure. The enigma of the Tsar’s gold has split Russian society in two parts. The vanished amount of gold is valued at approximately US$80 billion. Some historians believe it could not have disappeared without trace. But others claim there are documents relating to how the gold was spent, so the money some politicians hope to find abroad does not exist.After World War II, the Soviet Union never formerly signed a peace treaty with Japan, mainly over territorial disputes in the Kuril Islands, but there are speculations that the legend of Kolchak’s gold may also share in the blame. Representatives of the Duma suggest they have found a paper trail that proves Japan may have a significant amount of the legendary treasure and that a comprehensive treaty should address both the issues of territory and the prompt return of the missing gold.Igor Dyakov, a writer and State Duma Deputy, asserts the existence of the Tsar’s gold as an undeniable fact, referring to the official documents, dated 1946:“A report was prepared for the minister of finances, Zverev, about the state of Russian gold taken abroad in 1919 on Kolchak’s orders. I can not disclose the inside sources that were studying the issue and conducting negotiations in Japan. There is no doubt that this gold exists. It is a fact.”The doubters also believe a thorough record accounting for the gold exists, but that it tells a different story. “The leaders of Russian immigration were very diligent in their reports about spending the money. So we have written records of everything. So no one owes us anything,” says historian Vladimir Buldakov.