(NOVEMBER 14-15, 2000)
World War II Working Group
The World War II Working Group (WWII WG) met twice during the Seventeenth Plenum at the Hotel National in Moscow. The working group was chaired on the U.S. side by Mr. R. Michael McReynolds of the U.S. National Archives and Record Administration and on the Russian side by Colonel Nikolay Nikiforov of the Russian Ministry of Defense's Institute of Military History. Also participating in the work of the group were: Mr. Vladimir Korotayev, Deputy Director of the Center for the Storage and Preservation of Historical Document Collections; Mr. Igor Pitelin of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs; and Mr. Albert Graham, Deputy Director, Joint Commission Support Directorate Washington. Mr. Aleksandr Yudin served as the translator and interpreter.
As requested by the Russian side at the 16 th Plenum, Mr. McReynolds presented Colonel Nikiforov with three U.S. Air Force operational reports from the archives at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama with regard to P-38 engagements with Soviet planes near Vienna, Austria, on April 2, 1945.
The WWII WG reviewed the mission of the past summer to Kamchatka to identify a U.S. Navy PV-1 bomber and agreed to plan a full-scale excavation of the site, tentatively scheduled for the summer of 2001. The Russian side was apprised that as many as 30 U.S. specialists from the U.S. Army's Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii (CILHI) along with their equipment, would have to be transported to the crash site for a month-long stay.
The Russian side agreed to raise this issue at the highest levels of government and expects full approval for the excavation several months before it is to take place. Colonel Nikiforov expressed a desire to have Jim Connell provide the Russian side with more details on U.S. plans as they become available.
In response to the Russian side¹s request for more data on the downed PV-1, Mr. McReynolds presented Colonel Nikiforov with eight enlarged Kamchatka PV-1 crash-site photos, as well as copies of JCSD interviews with Mikhail Khotin and Mikhail Cheresko, who stated that they had observed human remains at the Kamchatka crash site in 1962 and 1970, respectively. The Russian side, at Colonel Golumbovskiy's initiative, promised to read these accounts and then search their archives, to include the local FSB archives, for any possible reports on the PV-1 incident, especially those that may relate to a reported 1970 mission to the site by a Soviet military team. The war diaries and operational reports of the PV-1 Ventura found in Kamchatka were also handed over to the Russian side at this time.
A detailed discussion was held on a list of 39 U.S. POWs who were under Soviet control at the end of WWII. Mr. McReynolds again raised the issue of the past Russian
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promise to search through documentary records of Soviet Convoy Troops and specifically mentioned the case of PFC Rudolph Frisch, one of the 39 American servicemen who was known to have been under Soviet control at the end of World War II and who subsequently did not return to the United States. The Russian side agreed to keep searching the Convoy Troop records and promised to turn over to Jim Connell the personal data card on Rudolph Frisch that was found at the Center for the Storage and Preservation of Historical Document Collections. Colonel Nikiforov likewise pledged to approach the FSB archives for any documents on Frisch and, in general, to continue efforts to resolve the fate of the 39 individuals on the list.
Mr. McReynolds raised once again the issue of the Kogan ring, which had been discussed at previous plenums without any success. The U.S. side agreed to prepare a more detailed background paper on this case for the Russians, to include precise places, dates and times relating to the incident. Colonel Nikiforov, in turn, consented to provide copies of documentation on this matter which had been prepared and previously promised by Colonel Sergei Chuvashin, the Director of the Podolsk Archives.
The subject of the émigré memoirs and the ³Gulag Study² was raised by Mr. McReynolds. Colonel Nikiforov suggested further deliberations on this issue be carried out in joint session with the other working groups at a later time. After a brief discussion, the U.S. side agreed with this approach. With regards to the ³Gulag Study,² Colonel Nikiforov mentioned the possible use of ³Memorial Society² researchers in conjunction with Russian government archives¹ staff to search for data on Americans allegedly held in the Gulag.
Mr. McReynolds presented Colonel Nikiforov with the U.S. draft of the WWII Working Group report and asked him to review it. The following day, the Russian side reported their concurrence with the draft report with one suggested change to which the U.S. side agreed. Mr. McReynolds then handed over the co-signed WWII Working Group section of the report to the USRJC¹s Co-Chairmen.
In closing, Mr. McReynolds presented Colonel Nikiforov with a copy of the National Archives Guide to the Records on Holocaust Assets, and Colonel Nikiforov gave Mr. McReynolds a Russian CD on World War II entitled, ³From the Kremlin to the Reichstag² as well as an issue of the Russian periodical Novyy Chasovoy.
Cold War Working Group
The Cold War Working Group met twice during the Seventeenth Plenum in Moscow. The working group was chaired on the U.S. side by Mr. A. Denis Clift, President, Joint Military Intelligence College, and on the Russian side by Colonel Vladimir Vinogradov, Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB). Also participating in the work of the group were: Mr. Ivan Cherepkov of the FSB Archives; Captain 1 st Rank Kazachenko; Mr. James MacDougall, Joint Commission Support Directorate (JCSD)-Washington; Dr. James Connell, JCSD-Moscow; and Ms. Carol Dockham, Senior Analyst,
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Cold War Working Group, JCSD-Washington. Rear Admiral (retired) Boris Novyy participated as an expert researcher and witness during the working group sessions.
The first session, held on 14 November 2000, was devoted to a presentation by Admiral Novyy about his work on behalf of the CWWG at the Central Naval Archives in Gatchina and other places. His briefing was divided into three parts: the 8 April 1950 incident over the Baltic Sea, the 6 November 1951 incident over the Sea of Japan and the 1 July 1960 incident over the Barents Sea.
Admiral Novyy has performed extensive research at the Central Naval Archives in Gatchina near St. Petersburg and at other Russian archives on the 1 July 1960 shoot down of the RB-47 aircraft. One of the primary purposes of his research has been to determine the disposition of the remains of Major Eugene Posa, one of three missing crewmembers from the RB-47. Based on his archival research, Admiral Novyy has identified a number of potential witnesses, and together with U.S. representatives of the Joint Commission, has been able to locate and interview dozens of them throughout Russia and Ukraine.
Through a combination of archival research and interviews, Admiral Novyy has been able to trace Major Posa¹s remains from their recovery at sea to Severomorsk. To locate further information, Admiral Novyy thought the most fruitful lines of inquiry would be through personnel from the Northern Fleet Medical Service and the Special Department of the KGB of the Northern Fleet. He is currently seeking a former Soviet major who was probably a Medical Service administrative officer. This major met the ship that brought the body of Major Posa to Severomorsk, and Admiral Novyy thought he would have information about where the body was taken after it was offloaded from the vessel. As for personnel from the Special Department of the KGB of the Northern Fleet, Colonel Vinogradov was assisting Admiral Novyy in locating 26 officers who had been identified from documents. Interviews with several former KGB officers have already been conducted.
The Cold War Working Group is hopeful that it is close to finding Major Posa¹s burial site. The Joint Commission is considering a possible expedition to Kildin Island and Sayda-Guba in 2001 to examine several possible sites. The possibility of the Murmansk Cemetery as the burial site also remains under active consideration.
In addition to his work on the 1 July 1960 incident, Admiral Novyy had new information to report on the 8 April 1950 and 6 November 1951 incidents. In the case of the 8 April 1950 shoot down of a U.S. Navy PB4Y2 Privateer over the Baltic Sea, Admiral Novyy found documentation showing that two newly upgraded submarine hunters, the MO-201 and MO-206, had been dispatched on a ³special mission² in the Baltic at approximately the time the Privateer was shot down. Admiral Novyy speculated the mission of these submarine hunters may have been to search for the Privateer. The fact there had been two of them increased the likelihood some witnesses might still be alive who could clarify the nature of the ³special mission² in April 1950. Admiral Novyy had already contacted one of the former crewmen, who was unfortunately too ill to recall any information about this mission. He will continue research on this case.
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Admiral Novyy also found documents relating to the 6 November 1951 shoot down of a U.S. Navy PV2 ³Neptune² over the Sea of Japan. After Soviet fighters had shot the Neptune down, three torpedo boats of the 25 th Group of the Pacific Fleet were dispatched to the scene where it went into the water. According to the documents, the boats found no wreckage or bodies. Admiral Novyy had identified everyone in the 25 th Group who might have information on the search for the Neptune aircraft and had spoken with the chief technical specialist of the 25 th Group in St. Petersburg. Admiral Novyy will continue to search for other crewmen, who he suggested might also have information on other Cold War incidents over the Pacific, such as the 13 June 1952, and 29 July 1953 shoot downs.
The second session of the Cold War Working Group took place on 15 November 2000. It opened with the issue of continued research at the Central Naval Archives at Gatchina. Mr. Clift noted the previous day¹s working group session had ended with a report on documents relating to the 6 November 1951 incident, and said we should prepare to conduct similar research on the 13 June 1952, 29 July 1953, and 18 April 1955 incidents.
Secondly, Mr. Clift said the U.S. side thought it important to renew contacts with the Border Guards. The Border Guards had no doubt played a role in the various shoot down incidents, particularly in the search and recovery operations. Information from the Border Guards had in fact shed light on several Cold War loss incidents, and we needed to continue the search for additional documentation. Recognizing that the Border Guards were part of the KGB during the Soviet era, Mr. Clift said we probably could not expect exactly the same kind of research arrangement at the Border Guards Archives as we have at the Central Military Archives at Podolsk or at the Central Naval Archives at Gatchina. He proposed that Dr. Jim Connell, the Chief of the Joint Commission Support Directorate office in Moscow, work with Colonel Vinogradov and his staff on arrangements for further research at the Border Guards Archives. Colonel Vinogradov agreed to the need for continued work with the Border Guards and agreed to pursue Mr. Clift's recommendation.
The discussion then turned to the memoirs of the Russian émigré and the 13 June 1952 shoot down of a U.S. Air Force RB-29 over the Sea of Japan. Mr. Clift pointed out the memoirs were just one source of information the U.S. side possessed indicating the crew may have survived. Reports of sightings of the crew from the 13 June 1952 shoot down had been received by the U.S. Government almost from the day the plane went down. The other sources of information included a report about a Radio Moscow broadcast from 16 June 1952 that reported a U.S. officer had been picked up by a Soviet vessel two days previously; debriefings of another RB-29 crew, shot down on 4 July 1952 over Korea, who said they had been asked personal questions about Major Samuel Busch, the pilot of the aircraft, during interrogation sessions; and a diplomatic note from the U.S. State Department in 1956 that contained a report of an alleged sighting of an American aviator in a hospital north of Magadan. Copies of these items were included among the U.S. documents on U.S. Cold War losses over or near Soviet territory that were provided to the Russian side at the beginning of the first working group session.
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At this point, Ms. Dockham suggested several concrete steps that could be taken to investigate these sources. The U.S. side was requesting a copy of the transcript of the Radio Moscow broadcast of 16 June 1952, as well as the individual interrogation reports of the aircrew members from the 4 July 1952 shoot down. We know these exist from documentation previously passed by the Russian side. These interrogation reports were most likely to be found in the Central Military Archives at Podolsk. As for the September 1956 diplomatic note, it was based on U.S. reports written from debriefs of foreign nationals who had been released from Soviet camps; one or two such reports were included among the documents passed to Colonel Vinogradov.
Colonel Vinogradov promised the Russian side would look for the Radio Moscow transcript and would also check for newspaper stories from the period. As for the interrogation reports from the crew of the 4 July 1952 shoot down over Korea; Vinogradov suggested making a request for these documents through Colonel Orlov, Co-Chairman of the Korean War Working Group. He asked Admiral Novyy to check for archival documentation on vessels that might have been sent to the place where the RB-29 went down. He promised to check the Border Guards and Federal Security Services Archives for materials, and said he would query local authorities in the Far East about the information contained in the U.S. documentation he had received.
Mr. Clift brought up the subject of the gun camera photography cited in a report from Kuznetsov to Stalin concerning the 13 June 1952 incident. Mr. Clift said he found it difficult to believe the gun camera photography had simply been discarded. Admiral Novyy suggested such photography, if it still exists, might be held in the Pacific Fleet archives. Colonel Vinogradov agreed a request should be made for a search for the photography at those archives.
During the course of the working group sessions, Mr. Clift handed Colonel Vinogradov information the U.S. side had obtained on three former Soviet prisoners of war from Afghanistan and passed a complete set of all U.S. documentation on U.S. Cold War losses that took place over or near Soviet territory. He also provided a draft of the Cold War Working Group section of the 1995-2000 report of the Joint Commission to Colonel Vinogradov.
Korean War Working Group
The Korean War Working Group (KWWG) met twice during the Seventeenth Plenum in Moscow. The working group was chaired on the U.S. side by Mr. Norman Kass, the Commission's U.S. Executive Secretary, and on the Russian side by Colonel Orlov of the Russian Ministry of Defense's Institute of Military History. Also participating in the work of the group were: Genera-Major Sergei Shauro of the Main Information Center of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD); Mr. Igor Pitelin of the MVD; Ms. Alina Belyukova, an archivist; Major Tim Falkowski, Senior Analyst, KWWG, Joint Commission Support Directorate (JCSD); Mr. Danz Blasser, KWWG, JCSD; SFC Michael Lunini, KWWG, JCSD; and SFC Joya Gooden, KWWG, JCSD.
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At 1:30 p.m. the KWWG convened at the National Hotel on 14 November 2000. Mr. Kass began the session by expressing Congressman Johnson¹s best wishes for positive and productive results for the working group. Mr. Kass passed Congressman Johnson¹s letter to Colonel Orlov which expressed the Congressman¹s support for expanding access at the Podolsk archives to include reports from former Soviet crash site search groups, and for continued support for research into the reports compiled in the "Gulag Study."
Mr. Kass passed a copy of the U.S. side's draft of the KWWG section to the Commission's 1995-2000 Joint Report. He requested that Colonel Orlov review the document and provide feedback as soon as possible. Colonel Orlov agreed to do so.
Next, Mr. Kass praised the ongoing research at Podolsk that has been instrumental in clarifying loss circumstances not only of American pilots but Soviet pilots as well. Colonel Orlov agreed and commented that much more work needs to continue to determine the fate of the remaining pilots still missing in action from the Korean War. Mr. Kass interjected that now is the time to expand our efforts at the Podolsk archives. In particular, he asked for expanded access to archived reporting by search groups which investigated crash sites during the war. The search groups are important because they were directly involved in the recovery of live pilots, their remains and personal effects.
After a thorough review of the 64 th FAC (Fighter Aviation Corps) archived material, the U.S. side has identified several of the Soviet search group members who participated in searches at U.S. crash sites. Mr. Kass presented Colonel Orlov a Russian language interview with one of the former Soviet search group members‹former Senior Lieutenant Lukynikh. Lukynikh reported that his search group was under orders to return live U.N. pilots, pilot remains, aircraft parts, and personal effects to their respective Soviet division headquarters. After reading the report Colonel Orlov noted that there were two kinds of Soviet search teams during the Korean War. The first group was ad hoc in nature and consisted largely of Soviet mechanics and technicians who were responsible for locating downed Soviet aircraft. Colonel Orlov indicated that it was in such a unit that Lukynikh served when assigned to search for Soviet aircraft. Orlov therefore concluded that Lukynikh would not likely have had information on U.S. or U.N. aircraft or personnel. The second type of search group was composed of Soviets, North Koreans, and Chinese personnel responsible for searching for downed U.N. aircraft. In neither case did Orlov have knowledge of orders to return U.N. pilots, remains or personal effects.
Based on his work at Podolsk, Mr. Blasser suggested that the role of the Soviet search groups evolved during the course of the Korean War. Initially, the search groups seemed to lack standard operating procedures. However, as the war progressed, the search groups' mission was clarified. The search groups were responsible for assisting downed pilots, exploiting foreign technology, and preventing enemy sources from access to downed MiG aircraft. In the case of a downed American aircraft, parts would be removed as proof that the plane had been shot down. Every search group report that the U.S. side has seen was routed through the Air Force Operational Group, which was in China for the first year of the war. The U.S. side, therefore, requested access to finding guides to the Air Force
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Operational Group and the Main Staff and the General Staff of the of the Air Force as a first, important step in locating additional search-group reports. It is believed that these reports may be instrumental in determining the fate of unaccounted-for U.S. airmen.
Colonel Orlov agreed as to the need to review these finding guides but indicated that requests for access to documents generated by higher headquarters such as the General Staff must be directed to General Manilov. The U.S. side should draft a letter and submit a formal request to General Manilov, Colonel Orlov suggested.
Colonel Orlov was then reminded that, at the 16 th Plenum in 1999, General Lajoie provided a letter to the Russian side requesting all remaining classified material pertaining to U.S. servicemen from the Korean War be reviewed and declassified. This request was reiterated by U.S. Secretary of Defense Cohen in a meeting with Russian Minister of Defense Sergeyev. Mr. Kass asked Colonel Orlov what has been done with respect to this request. Colonel Orlov pointed out that the review of materials at Podolsk is ongoing but has been complicated by an influx of material from the Air Defense Forces (PVO) and the Air Forces (VVS). The large amount of documents received from the PVO and VVS covers both the Korean and Vietnam wars and requires an additional unspecified amount of time to review and ultimately declassify.
While Colonel Orlov could not provide a specific answer with regard to the declassification request, he referred to the document presented at the opening session of the Plenum entitled, ³Several Accomplishments Concerning the Work of the Korean Section.² This document is divided in two parts entitled "Confirmed Deaths of American Pilots Previously MIA," and "Clarification of the Fates of Several American Pilots." Colonel Orlov suggested that this document may represent the results of a review undertaken at Podolsk in response to General Lajoie's request. Mr. Kass acknowledged that possibility and noted that the U.S. side will review the document for any new information that could help identify the fate of American pilots. [Subsequent review established that the document presented by Colonel Orlov was a summary of research conducted to date by U.S. researchers at Podolsk. Therefore, the U.S. side continues to request the results of the review of classified holdings at Podolsk which the Russian side previously agreed to conduct.]
Colonel Orlov then presented the U.S. side with a list of Soviet casualties from the Korean War. The list, entitled ³23 Soviet Pilots Who Perished in Korea and Whose Burial Place and Circumstances of Death are Unknown,² provides the names of the Soviet pilots along with the dates on which they died in aerial combat. Colonel Orlov asked for the American side to assist in determining the loss circumstances of these servicemen through an interview program with American pilots from that period. Mr. Blasser offered to provide information on these Soviet pilots that he has garnered from his Podolsk research. Although a time-intensive project, Mr. Kass agreed that this was a good idea and could produce positive results for the Russian side and for the Commission.
Colonel Orlov requested assistance in developing communications with the relatives and veterans of the Korean War to improve the Russian side¹s ties with Western veterans'
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organizations. He specifically mentioned the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Society of Aces and asked for the U.S. side¹s assistance in organizing meetings with these organizations as well as with the relatives and other veterans of the Korean War. The U.S. side agreed to explore this request further.
Mr. Kass presented Colonel Orlov a copy of the "Gulag Study" which summarizes eyewitness accounts of U.S. POWs in the Gulag prison system of the former Soviet Union. He challenged Colonel Orlov to provide assistance in determining the veracity of these accounts and solicited ideas on how to approach this complex issue. Mr. Kass requested that the Russian side study the incidents in the Gulag Study thoroughly so that the Commission will be able to respond in detail to the many expressions of concern received from the American public and the media. Colonel Orlov responded that, as we all know, the Russian side has been working on this problem for the last seven years and that, of course, he and his staff will thoroughly check the evidence presented in the Gulag Study.
In the same vein, General Shauro commented that he has access to archives not only in Moscow but also throughout Russia and will painstakingly research all accounts of U.S. POWs presented in the Gulag Study. Mr. Kass urged the Russian side to be innovative and expansive in their approach to the research.
On 15 November 2000, members of the U.S. and Russian sides of the Korean War Working Group met at the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense, Podolsk, Russia, to discuss current and future archival research with its director and other senior staff.
After a presentation touching upon the archive's history and mission, Colonel Chuvashin noted that U.S. researchers from the Commission spend eight days each month at Podolsk with nearly unlimited access to documents of the 64th Fighter Aviation Corps. Colonel Chuvashin then asked what his office could do to further assist research efforts of the U.S. side.
Mr. Kass said that the U.S. side was very grateful for the current support. He then stated that the purpose of the meeting was to explore ways to expand the scope of research at the Central Archive. More specifically, he stated that the U.S. side wishes to request access to documentary holdings of the General Staff of the Air Force and the Air Force Operational Group, the latter being the higher headquarters of the 64th FAC during the Korean War. Mr. Kass also asked that the Russian side present it findings on the review of classified document holdings of the 64th FAC, which was discussed during the opening plenary session and during the KWWG's working session on November 14. Once again, discussion turned to the importance of finding documents relating to Soviet search groups, which were dispatched to locate downed United Nations aircraft. It was noted that the quest for documents prepared by search groups should be part of a broader effort that includes locating items recovered by these search groups, specifically personal effects and aircraft wreckage.
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Colonel Golumbovskiy explained that these search groups were formed from ground crews and other administrative personnel and that the majority of these records would be found in the documents of the technical support units of the 64th FAC. He also stated that items recovered were probably sent to military museums and other archival holdings. Colonel Chuvashin and Mrs. Pushkareva emphasized that holdings at Podolsk only contain paper documents and photocopies and no other physical items.
Colonel Chuvashin then stated that the review of classified holdings of the 64th FAC was finished and that the U.S. side soon would receive the results, although he did not specify exactly when. He said that any request to review holdings other than those of the 64th FAC would have to be approved by General Manilov. This would require General Lajoie and General Zolotarev to present a joint request to General Manilov for access to these documents.
Mr. Kass then discussed the possibility that the U.S. side could provide computer support to the Podolsk Archives. He stated that the U.S. side is coordinating in appropriate channels to gain permission to provide much-needed computers and microfiche readers to the archives in support of the Commission's work. The U.S. side agreed to keep Colonel Chuvashin informed of progress on this issue.
Colonel Chuvashin then took the members of the U.S. side on a tour of the archives, which included the reading and research rooms, the Hall of Esteemed Researchers, and Russian holdings concerning Soviet MIAs from WWII to the present. At the close of the tour, both sides of the working group agreed that the meeting had been productive and that mutual support could be expected to continue.
Vietnam War Working Group
The Vietnam War Working Group (VWWG) met twice during the Seventeenth Plenum in Moscow. The working group was chaired on the U.S. side by General Lajoie, the Commission's U.S. Co-Chairman, and on the Russian side by General-Major Bezborodov, Member of the Russian Duma. Other participants on the Russian side were: Colonel Valeriy Filippov, Ministry of Defense General Staff; Colonel Konstantin Golumbovskiy, Presidential Administration; Mr. Vladimir Sokolov, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA); Mr. Dmitriy Vorobyov, Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR); Colonel Vladimir Ovchinnikov, Central Archives, Ministry of Defense; Colonel Sergey Chuvashin, Ministry of Defense; and Ms. Natalya Levina, Executive Secretary. Participating on the U.S. side were: Mr. Roger Schumacher, Senior Analyst, VWWG, JCSD; MSgt Jeff Farnquist, VWWG, JCSD; TSgt Thomas Shipp, VWWG, JCSD; and Yuriy Shkeyrov, U.S. State Department Interpreter.
The first session took place on 14 November 2000. A number of long-standing issues of importance to the American side were discussed.
Access to the Podolsk Archives
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Colonel Chuvashin, Director of the Central Archives, Ministry of Defense, at Podolsk informed the U.S. side that, to date, 70 Vietnam War-related files at the Podolsk archives have been examined. Chuvashin said that no relevant information was found in these files. The U.S. side once again expressed their conviction that the Podolsk archives contain information of value to the American accounting effort. At a minimum, relevant data include: reports of the shoot down of American aircraft; POW interrogation reports; and the activities of the Soviet "special group" that acquired several thousand pieces of captured American combat equipment for eventual technical exploitation in the former USSR. The U.S. side urged the Russian side to continue and to broaden their search for such information in the Podolsk archives. The American side passed to the Russian side a detailed "archival search guide," which is intended to focus the search of the Russian archivists at Podolsk. General Bezborodov expressed his intent to expedite the Podolsk effort by working with the Russian General Staff.
Volkogonov Memoirs
The Russian side addressed several aspects of this issue during the Seventeenth Plenum. Some Russian Commissioners attempted to cast doubt on the credibility of General Volkogonov. Others continued to insist [as they have in the past] that Volkogonov's memoirs do not explicitly state that the purported KGB plan to "deliver knowledgeable Americans to the USSR for intelligence purposes" pertained to American POWs. The Russian side continued to deny that their archives contain the two documents referenced by Volkogonov in his memoirs. Nevertheless, General Bezborodov noted the continuing interest of the American side in this question, and he said it is the responsibility of the Russian side to prove or to dispel Volkogonov's assertion, despite the difficulties involved. He promised that the Russian side would work toward this end. The Russian side announced that former Russian Premier Yevgeniy M. Primakov, the only Russian official specifically tied by General Volkogonov to his discovery of the two documents in question, has again refused to meet with American representatives, stating he has already shared with American interlocutors everything he knows about this matter.
Direct Soviet Participation in POW Interrogation
The American side sought a status report from the Russian side on their effort to find archival evidence that a limited number of Soviet officials directly interrogated American POWs during the Vietnam War. [During the 16 th Plenum in November 1999, the Russian side had pledged to research this issue and report back on their findings.] The Russian side reported that the issue had been referred to the First Deputy Chief of the Russian General Staff, whose response had not yet been received. Russian Commissioners expressed confidence that a response will be forthcoming, and they suggested that the passage of considerable time since the request was forwarded to the General Staff might indicate that information had been found pertaining to this request. The U.S. side expressed their continuing interest in this topic and requested the Russian side to continue their effort to acquire a response from the General Staff.
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A New Search of the SVR Archives
The U.S. side reminded the Russian side that, during the 16 th Plenum, the SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service) representative had suggested that a request from the American side for a new search of the SVR archives might be favorably considered. Since then, the U.S. request [sent to the Russian side in February 2000] has not received a positive Russian response. The Russian response during the Seventeenth Plenum does not give the U.S. side hope that such a request will be carried out. The Russian side simply promised that any new POW-related information that is found in the SVR archives would be shared with the American side. The Russian side does not intend to actively search the SVR archives for these materials.
"Quang Documents"
The American side presented their argument once again for "special arrangements" for American access to the two GRU (Main Intelligence Directorate) documents held in a Russian archive that purport to be wartime presentations to the North Vietnamese Politburo by General-Lieutenant Tran Van Quang, author of the so-called "1205 document." The Russian side adopted the position that Russian Commissioners who first suggested that such a "special arrangement" might be worked out had acted inappropriately, and no such access to these documents will be permitted.
A second, abbreviated working group session was held on 15 November 2000. Two issues of importance were discussed at this session.
VWWG Section to the Commission's Joint Report
The American side presented the Russian side with a draft of the working group's annex to the Joint Commission's Report. The Russian side will now examine this draft and provide their input before the close of this year.
Possible Soviet MIAs in Southeast Asia
The U.S. side briefed the Russian side on the results of their research into Soviet casualties during the Vietnam conflict. For the first time, the American side has developed information based on authoritative Russian sources that the USSR incurred more casualties in this conflict than has so far been acknowledged, and that 21 of these casualties were missing-in-action cases. The American side offered to work with the Russian side to clarify the fate of these MIA Soviet servicemen based on the possibility that unidentified remains recovered by the U.S. in Vietnam and Laos might be those of Soviet service members. The Russian side expressed interest in this issue and promised to consult on their side and determine whether cooperation with the American side might help the Russian side to clarify the fate of MIA Soviet personnel.
During the Seventeenth Plenum, the U.S. side also was afforded an opportunity to interview the current Director of the Archives of the President of the Russian Federation,
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Mr. Vyacheslav Yakushev. Although it had been thought that General Volkogonov found at least one of the documents referred to in his memoirs in the Presidential Archives, Mr. Yakushev stated that his archive does not contain these materials. He claimed that his archive already has conveyed to the U.S. side all POW/MIA-related materials held therein. However, Mr. Yakushev offered to conduct a new search of the Presidential Archives for materials related to American POW/MIAs from all conflicts examined by the Joint Commission. The U.S. side agreed to provide Mr. Yakushev with an "archival search guide," providing focus to the efforts of Mr. Yakushev and his archivists in this search.
Finally, the U.S. side appreciated the opportunity during the Seventeenth Plenum to develop a rapport with the new Russian Co-Chairman, General Bezborodov. It is optimistic that, with his influence as a senior Russian military officer and as a deputy in the Russian State Duma, General Bezborodov may be able to advance a number of important issues before the Vietnam War Working Group that have been stymied for years. General Bezborodov has indicated that he is inclined to accept a second invitation from Senator Smith to visit the United States. The working group will plan such a visit in the upcoming year.
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WORKING GROUP SUMMARY - Part III