ИСТИНА

The paper researches the transformation of Russian empire’s imperial endeavors in activity of Soviet foreign banks in Asia in the 1920s. In the focus of attention there is the Bank for For-eign Trade of the USSR (Vneshtorgbank), its foreign brunches and affiliated banks: the branch in Istanbul and agencies in Afghanistan and West China, the Russo-Persian Bank, the Tuvan Bank, the Mongolian Bank, the Far Eastern Bank in Harbin (Dalbank), the Japanese branches of the Far Eastern Bank in Khabarovsk (DVBank) and foreign transactions of Central Asian Bank (Asiyabank). By the 1910s the Russian Empire was a minor colonial power, having interests mainly in Persia and in the Far East. In the period of wars and revolutions (1914-1922) Russia has lost its economic position in Asia. All Russian foreign markets have been strongly taken by competitors (Britain in Iran, Japan in the Far East region, and local entrepreneurs in China). On the one hand, Russia declared the rejection of imperial policy and made new treaties with neighboring coun-tries in this vein. On the other hand, Soviet export to Asia, unlike to Europe, could include not only raw materials, but also manufactured products, so the Soviet Union began a difficult and not always successful struggle for the restoration of its economic position in Asia. The struggle was complicated by the unstable political situation in Asian countries, by the adverse movement in the global monetary system, and customs restrictions, typical for the 1920s. Thus, the Soviet Un-ion tried to resume work in Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Manchuria and China. In the zone of So-viet influence there were areas where there were no imperialist rivals, but there were no modern money and banking either (Tannu Tuva, Mongolia, Western China). Here, the USSR was trying to ‘impose’ modern financial institutions. The areas of Soviet banking activity in Asia are studied through documents of Vneshtorgbank’s archive. It’s became clear that the Soviet foreign banks struggled against an economic isolation of the USSR, which was gradually reducing in the 1920s. Soviet banking in-stitutions acted abroad not only as banks, but also as resellers, analysts in Asian product and fi-nancial markets, as well as agents for some political missions.