Den ukrainska guldreserven

According to Iskra News:

At 2 a.m. this morning [March 7] an unmarked transport plane was on the runway at Borispol Airport (right) [east of Kiev]. According to airport staff, before the plane came to the airport, four trucks and two Volkswagen minibuses arrived, all the truck license plates missing.

Fifteen people in black uniforms, masks, and body armor stepped out, some armed with machine guns. They loaded the plane with more than 40 heavy boxes.

After that a mysterious man arrived and entered the plane.

All loading was done in a hurry.

The plane took off on an emergency basis.

Those who saw this mysterious special operation immediately notified the airport officials, who told the callers not to meddle in other people’s affairs.

Later a returned call from a senior official of the former Ministry of Revenue reported that tonight, on the orders of one of the new leaders of Ukraine, the United States had taken custody of all the gold reserves in Ukraine.” Сегодня ночью из “Борисполя” в США страртовал самолёт с золотым запасом Украины, iskra-news.info. Zaporozhye, Ukraine, March 7, 2014, translated from Russian by the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc (GATA), emphasis added)

[...]

While the unconfirmed report regarding Ukraine’s gold reserves has not been the object of coverage by the mainstream financial news, the story was nonetheless picked up by the Shanghai Metals Market at Metal.com. which states, quoting a report from the Ukrainian government, that Ukraine’s gold reserves had been “moved on an aircraft from … Kiev to the United States… in 40 sealed boxes” loaded on an unidentified aircraft.

The unconfirmed source quoted by Metal.com, says that the operation to airlift Ukraine’s gold had been ordered by the acting Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk with a view to safe-keeping Ukraine’s gold reserves at the NY Fed, against a possible Russian invasion which could lead to the confiscation of Ukraine’s gold reserves.

Tons of gold bars have vanished from the National bank of Ukraine. In an interview with Ukrainian media, Valeria Gontareva, the Governor of the bank admitted that there is almost no gold left in the vaults, and provided no explanation as to where the country’s gold has gone.

Ukraine’s Gold bullion reserves have diminished tremendously, according to Valeria Gontareva, the Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine, who claims that there are practically no gold bars left in the bank's vaults.

The astonishing statement has triggered a heated debate among Ukrainians. During the presidency of Victor Yanukovych, who was ousted in a military coup in February 2014, the National Bank of Ukraine had significantly increased its gold reserves.

[...]

It was therefore a surprise when, in November 2014, Valeria Gontareva, the NBU's Governor appointed by President Petro Poroshenko, admitted in an interview with the Ukrainian media that there was practically no physical gold left in the bank's vaults. According to Gontareva, the amount of gold bars barely covers one percent of the Ukrainian national reserves. In other words, by November 2014, Ukraine's gold stock has fallen from $987 to $123.6 million. The NBU's Governor has not been able to explain what caused such a dramatic reduction and where the tons of gold have vanished to. Ukrainian journalists note, however, that the National Bank of Ukraine has been actively selling the state's gold reserves since October, 2014. Experts denounced the actions of the NBU as irrational and non-pragmatic: the international market price of gold has fallen recently and it would be more sensible to increase the gold reserves, instead of weakening the state's depreciating currency.