Dmytro Medvedev, vice president of Russia’s Security Council, reacted strongly on Friday to the EU’s decision to ask Russia to return Romania’s treasury, saying that “Romanians are not a nation” and that the request was “insolent”, TASS reported.

“Romanians, as you know, are not a nation, but a way of life. It seemed that nothing could surprise us anymore. European leaders are idiots, weaklings, worthless. But no, we were given another reason. They want to return the gold to Romania,” Medvedev wrote in a post on his Vkontakte page, Russia’s equivalent of Facebook.

The former president and prime minister of Russia says that the Soviet government nationalized Romania’s treasury in 1918 for Romania’s “improper behavior,” and then our country refused to “pay its debts” to the “Soviet empire.”

“Romania agreed to it and then got us to waive reparations for the Nazi period during World War II. Well, now the appetite of various idiots in the European Parliament has revived again,” he continued his message.

“Well, I really don’t know how to respond to such insolence. The EU stole $300 billion worth of assets from Russia and demands the gold be returned to Romania,” Medvedev also noted, referring to Russian assets frozen by the EU bloc.

Russia claims that Romania is actually to blame

Medvedev’s comments came after Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Romania would like to solve its economic problems at Russia’s expense by returning the treasury, and that in reality Romania’s debts to Russia would exceed the value by 20-25 times. of the entire Romanian treasury.

“Romania is trying to shift its century-old phantom debts onto Russia’s shoulders in order to improve the catastrophic state of its national economy,” Zakharova wrote on her Telegram channel.

She claimed that Romania’s debts to Russia and the Soviet Union exceed, “according to experts’ calculations”, 20-25 times the value of the entire Romanian treasury that came to Russia in 1916-1917.

“Komsomolskaya Pravda” cites the spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry and writes that in 1949, Moscow “forgave Romania almost the entire debt for the destruction caused during the Second World War.” The Russian publication also writes that in 2022, Romania asked Russia to pay 4 billion euros to its treasury.

The EU says Russia has appropriated Romania’s treasury in an “unprecedented case in international relations.”

The reaction of Russian officials comes as the European Parliament voted on Thursday in favor of a resolution stating that Russia must return Romania’s treasures in full and that the EU executive and other competent European institutions must do all they can to support the effort. .

In the debate, in which the vast majority of Romanian MEPs took part, for the first time in the European Parliament the issue of the treasury of Romania illegally appropriated by Russia was raised.

• “In a resolution adopted on Thursday, MEPs highlight the fact that, despite several attempts at diplomatic negotiations after the First World War, Romania’s national treasures, sent to Russia for safekeeping between 1916 and 1917, have never been fully returned by Russia.
• “This is an unprecedented international case of misappropriation of gold reserves and heritage objects, which is a constant concern for Romanian society,” the press release of the European Parliament states.

The resolution on the restitution of the Romanian treasury was voted by a large majority. “This is a matter of national dignity. Romania cannot and must not accept anything less than the return of 91.5 tons of gold and the entire cultural treasure. I thank my colleagues from the European Parliament for their participation and support. It meant a lot,” said MEP Eugene Tomak.

The European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elise Ferreira, said in her opening remarks that she was speaking on behalf of the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell.

“You invited the European Commission to speak in connection with Russia’s return of Romania’s national wealth. The treasure was handed over to the tsarist empire for safekeeping, but it was never returned in full to Romania either by the USSR or the Russian Federation,” the high-ranking EU official recalled.

“The European Union is ready to support the Romanian authorities in the full return of the treasures, if they demand it,” Eliza Ferreira emphasized. At the same time, she drew attention to the fact that “Russia’s unjustified war against Ukraine led to the suspension of cooperation mechanisms” with Moscow.

Ferreira complained that Russia’s war against Ukraine “is a crime and a gross violation of international law,” and reminded that “measures against Russia include the largest package of sanctions adopted by the EU.”

On the same topic:

• “There is a lot of noise in the Kremlin today. Putin will be angry at the message I sent.” Historical voting rates in the European Parliament regarding the Treasury of Romania in Moscow