- Sputnik International
Russia
The latest news and stories from Russia. Stay tuned for updates and breaking news on defense, politics, economy and more.

Russia hands over more Katyn massacre files to Poland

© RIA Novosti . Mikhail Fomichev / Go to the mediabankRussia hands over more Katyn massacre files to Poland
Russia hands over more Katyn massacre files to Poland - Sputnik International
Subscribe
Russian prosecutors handed over to Poland on Thursday another 20 volumes of documents on the Katyn massacre following a request by Polish investigators.

Russian prosecutors handed over to Poland on Thursday another 20 volumes of documents on the Katyn massacre following a request by Polish investigators.

On May 8, Russia handed over to Poland 67 files of its investigation into the killing of over 21,000 Poles in 1940, but the Polish investigators said the information supplied had not revealed any new details.

"We are handing over additional 20 files from case #159, which partly fulfills the Polish request," senior Russian Prosecutor Saak Karapetyan said.

The files contain additional lists of Polish servicemen held captive by the Soviet secret police, interrogation and forensic reports, medical records, burial certificates and other data related to the massacre.

The Katyn massacre, in which thousands of officers, police and civilians taken prisoner during the 1939 partitioning of Poland by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany were killed, remains one of the most painful issues in Russian-Polish relations.

The Soviet Union blamed the massacre on the Nazis, saying the killings took place in 1941, when the territory was in German hands.

However, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev formally admitted in 1990 that the executions took place around 1940, and were carried out by the Soviet secret police, the NKVD.

In the 1990s, Russia handed over to Poland copies of archive documents from the top-secret File No.1, which placed the blame solely on the Soviet Union.

In September 1990, Russian prosecutors also launched a criminal case into the massacre, known as "Case No.159." The investigation was closed in 2004.

Poland's Institute of National Remembrance, which has been investigating the case since 2004, has proposed including Russia's materials into its own investigation.

 

MOSCOW, September 23 (RIA Novosti)

 

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала