Wozchod Handels Bank of Zurich explained

Wozchod Handels Bank of Zurich was a Swiss bank established on 22 June 1966.[1] [2] It was a Sovzagranbank involved in Russian gold trading and was owned by the Soviet government.[3] The Wozchod Handelsbank, which was allowed only 4 Soviet employees, and the Soviet embassy in Bern were both actively used as a base for Soviet operations in Switzerland.[2] The bank was a worldwide financier of pro Soviet and pro Communist propaganda and intelligence activities.[2] It was named in honor of Voskhod which was an October 1964 three person space shot by the Soviet Union.[2] The Russian word Восход, which transliterates to Wozchod in German or Voskhod in English, means dawn or sunrise.[2]

History

Wozchod Handelsbank (Zurich) was the first Soviet bank in Switzerland opening on 22 June 1966 and was headed by Albert Nikolaevich Belichenko (Russian: Альберт Николаевич Беличенко) from 1966 to 1969.[2] [4] [5] Its shareholders were Soviet state organizations including the State Bank of the USSR, Vneshtorgbank of the USSR, and some foreign trade associations.[4] From 1969 to 1974, Wozсhod Handelsbank (Zurich) was headed by Yuri Karnaukh, who, in 1972, transformed Wozchod Handelsbank into the Soviet Union's premier bank for trading gold with the Soviet Union.[6] The gold was transported from the Soviet Union to Switzerland under passenger seats on ordinary Soviet passenger aircraft using standard ingots of 12.5kg (27.6lb) for a total load of 7 tons per flight.[4] With total annual sales of 200 to 300 tons of Soviet gold bullion, Wozchod Handelsbank (Zurich) conducted gold trades through the Swiss banks Credit Suisse by Schrieber and UBS by Zubler and the German banks Deutsche Bank and Dresden Bank by Hans Joachim Schreiber.[4] The Soviet Union actively increased the price of gold from $35 an ounce in 1973 to $800-850 an ounce in 1980 by creating so-called "short" positions so that the Soviet Union could obtain hard currency.[4] The policy of greatly increasing the price of gold was conducted to destroy the economic policy of Jimmy Carter.[4] To reduce the effects that the Soviet Union had the price of gold, the United States established a domestic gold market and a gold futures exchange (comex).[4]

Due to trading losses which were made public in November 1984,[2] [7] the bank was liquidated in 1985.[8] [9] In 1985, Vneshtorgbank (Zurich) became the legal successor of Wozchod HandelsBank in Zurich with Andrey Akimov, Zhenya Ulyanov, and Vladimir Nikolaevich Goryunov on its staff.[9]

Wozchod Handelsbank (Zurich) also gained notoriety as a bank used by the American embezzler Stanley Rifkin when he defrauded Security Pacific National Bank in 1978.[10] [11] [12]

Chairmen of the Board

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Wozchod Handelsbank AG . Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland . en. 2019-07-26. 26 July 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190726054231/https://dodis.ch/R23431.
  2. News: SCHWEIZ / SOWJET-BANK: Morgenröte AG. SWITZERLAND / SOVIET BANK: Dawn AG. 1966-09-19. Spiegel Online. 2019-07-26. 39. 2 April 2015. https://archive.today/20150402213716/http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-46414590.html.
  3. News: Казьмина . Ирина . Банкир под прикрытием . Undercover banker. ru . . 2 April 2015 . 28 August 2023 . 16 June 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220616135345/https://www.forbes.ru/forbes/issue/2015-04/283037-bankir-pod-prikrytiem.
  4. Кротов . Николай .

    ru:Кротов, Николай Иванович

    . Гонка на золотых тельцах . Race on the golden calves . ru . . 2 . 52 . 2007 . magazines.russ.ru . 29 August 2023 . 20 March 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130320171811/http://magazines.russ.ru/nz/2007/2/kro13.html.
  5. News: Беличенко, Альберт Николаевич . Belichenko, Albert Nikolaevich . ru . letopis.ru . November 2021 . 29 August 2023 . 28 November 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211128205539/http://wiki.fa100.ru/index.php?title=%D0%91%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BA%D0%BE,_%D0%90%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B1%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%82_%D0%9D%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87.
  6. Web site: Карнаух Юрий Юрьевич . Karnaukh Yuriy Yurievich . ru . leptosis.org . 1 December 2017 . 28 August 2023 . 1 December 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171201041137/http://letopis.org/heroes/karnauhjj/.
  7. News: Edwards . John . Sowers . Andrew . Moscow to investigate its Swiss bullion trading . . 20 November 1984 . 29 August 2023. The article is located near the beginning of the transcript.
  8. News: Bruppacher . Balz . Eine Bank als «Stützpunkt des internationalen Kommunismus»: Trotz massiven Bedenken über subversive Aktivitäten der Kommunisten nimmt 1966 die erste sowjetische Bank in Zürich ihre Tätigkeit auf. Neunzehn Jahre später kollabiert das Institut spektakulär. . A bank as a «base of international communism»: Despite massive concerns about the subversive activities of the communists, the first Soviet bank started operations in Zurich in 1966. Nineteen years later, the institute collapses spectacularly. . de . Neue Zürcher Zeitung (www.nzz.ch) . 29 August 2023 . 14 March 2022 . https://archive.today/20220314092026/https://www.nzz.ch/schweiz/wie-die-sowjetische-wozchod-bank-in-der-schweiz-pleiteging-ld.1673863.
  9. Book: Кротов . Н И .

    ru:Кротов, Николай Иванович

    . ИСТОРИЯ советских и российских банков за границей. Воспоминания Oчевидцев Документы Том 1 . HISTORY Soviet and Russian banks Abroad. Memories Eyewitnesses Documentation Volume 1 . ru . . vtb.ru . 2007 . Moscow . 19 April 2022 . 978-5-903388-08-0 . 14 February 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190214210537/http://www.fa.ru/org/div/museum/SiteAssets/Pages/1917-2017/%D0%9A%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%B2%20%D0%9D.%D0%98.%20%D0%98%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F%20%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%85%20%D0%B8%20%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%85%20%D0%B1%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2%20%D0%B7%D0%B0%20%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%B5%D0%B9.pdf. Other ISBN 978-5-903388-07-3. See pages 94-6.
  10. Web site: Wozchod Being Liquidated Following Big Loss. AP NEWS. 2019-07-26. 2019-07-26. https://web.archive.org/web/20190726054233/https://apnews.com/b425d0ddef51531484b1c4c4511f453b.
  11. News: Soviet Bank Drops Trader ZURICH, Nov. 20 (AP) -. 1984-11-21. The New York Times. 2019-07-26. en-US. 0362-4331.
  12. Web site: The Soviet Union is liquidating its Swiss bank.. 1985-03-04. Los Angeles Times. en-US. 2019-07-26.