Buying Russia

One group of people, so far unmentioned as far as I can see, with an interest in producing a survivor or trying to ensure rumour of survivors of the Royal Family, are the British Government.  

Notwithstanding any possible desire on behalf of George V to want to rescue his cousin, HMG had a serious interest in producing either a genuine heir, a false heir or at the least a non-Bolshevik government in Russia.

I refer to the millions of pounds they had been spending in quietly buying up key Russian banking and communication assets from early 1918 onwards.  Though i would be hard pressed to prove it I suspect that some of the ransom money that Shay McNeal refers to in "The Plots to Rescue the Tsar" refer to money movements connected with what the late Michael Kettle referred to as "The Bank Schemes".

These involved the purchase of key bank shares by HMG in exchange for £ sterling abroad from Russian capitalists in Russia.  Some Roubles were also exchanged for £ accounts to fund counter-revolutionary work from the British Embassy.

If the Whites had won HMG would have owned substantial sectors of the Russian economy.  I refer you to Kettle's three published books "The Allies and the Russian Collapse", "The Road to Intervention" and "Churchill and the Archangel Fiasco".

I'm sorry but these are not easy reads and actually quote sources and require thinking about.  Many of the sources I've actually checked and as far as I can see they check out.

I await the usual rubbishing from people who haven't read the books, are never going to read the books and have never thought of checking the original sources for themselves.

Love to Bear who will no doubt love this thread!

Phil T  

So what exactly does this mean, Phil?  Does this mean the British govt would be supportive of claimants?  Or that they would try to ensure that any claimant like AA could never succeed?

I forgot to add that this could be an interesting discussion.

Phil,
While I grant the possibility existed, albeit slightly IMO, of what you say, what use would it have been pretty much after say 1925 or 1930, when the Soviet Union was not going away and there would be no foreseeable restoration of the "White" government in Russia.

Rob

Phil
Please explain your theory and  do please site sources; books/magazines/threads/etc. (is this 'theory' related to the 'Queen Elizabeth II is the world's biggest drug dealer' theory?}

rskkiya

Phil, it's always a pleasure when you post.

Before WWI the British were  all over the various oil fields which was just starting to be of  interest to the world powers...   I use to have a book that went into detail about the interest they had but it as lost during a move. [Wrong box given to library sale.]

The British were not the only ones interested.  There was a long list of important people like the Rothchilds, Rockefellors. J. P. Morgan....  It's been to long,  I don't recall all the names in this particular elite group.

With the fall of the Tsar,  and in the early months of  1918, I believe,  the British were setting up their own "future leader" of Russia.  His name was Borois Savinkov, who supported  a Russian "democratic federal state"...

AGRBear

 Though i would be hard pressed to prove it I suspect that some of the ransom money that Shay McNeal refers to in "The Plots to Rescue the Tsar" refer to money movements connected with what the late Michael Kettle referred to as "The Bank Schemes".



Phil T  

OHHH GAWWWD...not again!

Phil wrote his source:

>> I refer you to Kettle's three published books "The Allies and the Russian Collapse", "The Road to Intervention" and "Churchill and the Archangel Fiasco". <<

And, yes, like some of us, he's also read McNeal's book.

AGRBear