Posted on 08/26/2004 1:29:19 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Moscow (CNSNews.com) - Russia has for the first time agreed to open its remote far eastern region to U.S. officials searching for American servicemen missing in action from past wars.
The U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs is to undertake an expedition that will take in the region bordering the Korean peninsula, including the major urban centers of Vladivostok and Khabarovsk.
Details are scarce, but the mission will take place from Sept. 21-30. In the past the commission's work has mostly taken place in Moscow.
Established by the U.S. and Russian presidents in March 1992, the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission (USRJC)is designed to help both nations determine the fate of their missing servicemen.
From the U.S. side, the aim is to locate and return home the remains of any deceased American who was interred in the former Soviet Union, and to ascertain what happened in cases where a MIA's fate remains unclear.
The commission is organized into four working groups, each one representing a key era and area of investigation - World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War.
The latter group has focused on U.S. aircraft lost during the Cold War period as well as on Soviet military personnel unaccounted for from Afghanistan and other areas of conflict.
An additional "Gulag study team" was created to investigate reports received about U.S. servicemen held in detention facilities of the former Soviet Union.
Since 1998, Russia has allowed two U.S. researchers to review documents at the Russian Defense Ministry's central archives at Podolsk, south of Moscow, for eight days each month.
Last April, Russian archivists traveled to Washington DC for a first-ever joint conference at the National Archives and Records Administration facility in College Park, Maryland.
The USRJC-organized event brought together archivists from both sides, Pentagon officials and representatives of veterans' organizations and MIA family groups.
Russian documents older than 30 years are subject to declassification review, but in contrast to the American system, this process is not automatic. By the end of 2003, only 20 percent of previously-classified World War II materials in Russian archives had been declassified. Russia plans to declassify the rest by the end of 2004.
With regard to post-WWII materials, Russian officials say they will work at making as many as possible available for research.
So far 90 percent of Korean War-era material held in the archive has been declassified and made available to the USRJC.
Soviet participation in the Korean War was mostly limited to the participation of the 64th Fighter Aviation Corps, which was involved in air combat against the US Air Force over the peninsula. At the USRJC's urging, 90 percent of this command's documents have been declassified.
Russian researchers have also made available to the Americans files on 363 reports of downing of U.S. aircraft during the Vietnam War. Only seven names have been identified so far.
Moscow says the Vietnam War-era records pose difficulties because no Soviet units fought in the war, although Soviet officers did advise North Vietnamese military units.
As a result, there is no single unified collection of records. Researchers had wade through 300,000 pages of documents to come up with the 363 isolated reports.
Russia's agreement to let the Americans access its far eastern region is the latest in a series of positive developments in the field of MIA remains recovery.
This month, Russians for the first time joined experts from the U.S. and four South-East Asian nations to discuss cooperation in the search and recovery of American MIAs from World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam War.
The meeting in Hawaii brought together representatives of Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam as well as the Americans and Russians.
Vietnam last month agreed to allow search teams to return to the country's Central Highlands, which had been off limits for three years because of political unrest. The remains of some 110 Americans are believed to be located in the area.
Vietnam has also granted the U.S. access to its national archives as part of the search effort.
Since the end of the Vietnam War, the U.S. has accounted for more than 700 Americans missing from that war while more than 1,800 remain unaccounted for.
More than 88,000 Americans are still missing from all conflicts.
POW/MIA ping
Another Clinton opportunity to accomplish something pissed away.
Bump for later read. Good to see you around again.
Thanks Howlin. I'll put that on my list of "must read." Just did a search and got some reviews. Interesting, indeed.
My dad's favorite book; it's great.
LTCDR Charles Marik Jr. June, 1966 off Hanoi.
PLEASE come home.
Well Done.
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