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The continuing search for answers in Russia By: Donna Downes Knox On July 1, three U.S. investigators from
the Joint Commission Support Directorate (JCSD) Moscow office were expelled, as
part of the tit-for-tat expulsion of diplomats between the U.S. and Russia. One
of the three, Bureau Chief Jim Connell, has already applied for a new visa so
he can return to his post and continue his valuable work in Russia. It is up in
the air, at this writing, whether he will be allowed to return or not.
Apparently, just as the expulsions were on an eye-for-an-eye basis, so will be
permission to return. The other two JCSD staff who were
asked to leave are part of the Korean War research team that has been reviewing
records at the Podolsk archives. We do not know yet if they will be allowed to
return to Russia now, or in the future. If not, they will have to be replaced.
Currently, they are working out of JCSD offices in the United States and will
continue to do so, we are told, if they are not granted new Russian visas. Meanwhile the overall JCSD team is
continuing to lay the groundwork for its investigation into reported transfers
of American POWs to the former Soviet Union. The technical impediment to this
whole project moving forward has been finding an intermediary organization
through which U.S. funding can go. Under Russian law, the project cannot be
funded directly by the U.S. government. Under U.S. law, the intermediary is
required to assume certain responsibilities which some organizations have been
reluctant to accept. We are told that an appropriate intermediary might have
been located and this obstacle to moving forward might soon be removed. While waiting for this
administrative wrinkle to be ironed out, U.S. investigators have continued identifying
and seeking out people who will ultimately work with them in pursuing leads
about Americans in the Soviet gulags. The two areas of primary focus will
continue to be Vorkuta in the Komi Republic, and the Perm Region. Evidence
suggests that these two areas played host to large concentrations of gulags,
including several sharashka camps, which were special detainment camps
for foreigners. The sharashka camps were set up
for the purpose of exploiting the knowledge and skills of foreigners who fell
into Soviet hands. A number of reports over the years from a variety of sources
have confirmed the existence of these camps. Without specifically admitting
that Americans were brought in, the Russians have apparently confirmed the camp
program for foreigners. A great deal of evidence shows Americans being taken to
the Soviet Union during the Korean and Cold War era. The obvious concern is
that American POWs were secretly brought to these (and other) camps and never
returned. While the Russians do not appear
to be interfering with the American field investigation (at least not openly),
it seems our team will be working largely on its own to move this project
along. From what we can tell, the Russians have not jumped into this effort
with much in the way of initiatives or resources of their own. The vitality of
the Joint Commission will, no doubt, be determined, at least in part, by the
extent to which the Bush Administration makes the POW/MIA accounting a priority
on its foreign policy agenda. Many of the reports of Americans
in Soviet captivity have been compiled into a single document called the Gulag
Study. The Gulag Study can be viewed on the Coalition’s web page at " The Gulag Study ."
The document will be updated from time to time. Revisions will be highlighted
as newly added information. The JCSD will soon be posting on
its own web page. By mid-July you should be able to get to the JCSD page by
visiting the DPMO web site.
Follow the links to the JCSD page.
Coalition
Headquarters
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