A Russian monarchist says that three uninhabited islands in the Pacific will become the restored Romanov Empire. Bakov himself is Archchancellor of the Imperial Throne and bears the title of Serene Prince.
The coat of arms of The Imperial Throne
Anton Bakov claims to have restored the Russian Romanov Empire through a “micronation” with no physical territory called Imperial Throne. The empire began to issue its own passports online for 1,000 rubles (US$31) and by 2014 it claimed it had granted about 4,000 passports to citizens.
In 2014, the Imperial Throne announced itself a sovereign nation and that German Prince Karl Emich of Leiningen had succeeded Nicholas II and is now Emperor Nicholas III.
The Imperial Throne claims the right to maritime territories that were either claimed by the Russian Empire or discovered by the Imperial Russian Navy but never absorbed into the Soviet Union. The 17 claimed territories include the entire continent of Antarctica and land under the jurisdiction of Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The last Czar: Nicholas II and his family
Speaking on Mr. Bakov’s behalf, his wife Marina Bakova said her husband wants to revive the Romanov Empire in the Pacific.
“This is the desire of not only the heir of the Russian Throne, of Nicholas the third, but also a great number of Russian patriots who are not happy with Putin’s regime.”
An ardent monarchist, Bakov wants Prince Karl Emich of Leiningen, a 64-year-old German noble who is apparently a great-great-grandson of the nineteenth-century Russian emperor Alexander II, to accede to the throne and restore the Russian monarchy, which was overthrown during the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.
Mr. Bakov has previously made attempts to restore the monarchy in the Cook Islands, a south Pacific country which is in free association with New Zealand, and in Montenegro.
Some questioned the motives behind the unusual plan to set up a remote outpost of the old Romanov empire on three isolated atolls, even suggesting Mr. Bakov is hoping to create a tax haven.
But the latest proposal is being seriously considered by authorities in Kiribati, a series of 33 coral atolls which is roughly halfway between Hawaii and Australia.
The low-lying nation faces an uncertain future due to rising sea levels and has been seeking fresh sources of income, as well as potential places of refuge for some of its 107,000 citizens whose homes and livelihoods are under threat.
If Bakov’s Romanov plan goes through, the Czar would be one of the first in the world to celebrate New Year because the islands lie right by the dateline.
H/T : BBC News
