by Nina BYSTROVA, Dr. Sc. (Hist.), leading researcher of the RAS Institute of Russian History (Moscow) The developments of October of 1917 divided Russia into two hostile sides and triggered Civil War, an ordeal for the nation with many tragedies. The fate of the Russian Fleet was one of them. THE RUSSIAN SQUADRON This laconic phrase, cited in literature, "Since 1924, when France extended recognition to Soviet Russia, all Russian ships in Bizerta passed into the possession of the mother country", i.e. France, sealed the fate of what remained of the Russian Imperial Fleet, which found shelter in North Africa. In reality the diplomatic history of the Russian marine squadron did not end there. Throughout the 1920s the issue of the Bizerta fleet figured in Soviet-French relations alongside with problems of old debts and credits, return to Russia of consular and church property, and стр. 85 economic matters. In Soviet-French negotiations return of old Russian debts was made conditional on return of the fleet; recognition of the Soviet state by the French depended on that. It must be emphasized that while different economic issues mentioned above were studied long ago and in detail by researchers, the problem of the Bizerta fleet received much less attention. However, this was one of the central and most controversial issue of that time. What can we tell of those events today? In the middle of November 1920, the fleet left the Crimea, the last bastion of the White Movement. Giving the order for evacuation, Baron Pyotr Vrangel warned the White Guard men that leaving their motherland, they would be in for an uncertain future. As is known, part of the land forces left for Greece, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia and then dispersed all over the world. But the fate of the Russian Fleet was different. The voyage from the Crimea in the stormy Black Sea of 126 ships with 150,000 men on board, including seamen, officers and civ ... Читать далее