MOSCOW, May 29 (AVN) - A commission on prisoners of war, internees and missing persons under Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a report on liberation of servicemen, policemen and citizens forced to stay in Chechnya in exchange of stopping further pursuit of their kindnappers regardless of their crimes, a spokesman for the State Duma lower house of Russian parliament said on Tuesday.
The work is carried out in accordance with a resolution of the State Duma lower house of parliament proclaiming amnesty of people involved in unlawful activities during the Chechnya campaign.
Implementation of the regulation has entered its final stage, the report says. As many as 115 hostages were freed and 149 are planning to be freed thanks to the commission. The fate of 547 servicemen and policemen out of 872 who have gone missing since the beginning of the Chechnya campaign is known as of May 21, 2001. The wanted list currently features 325 people.
Apart from finding and liberating missing persons in Chechnya the commission is responsible for clearing out fates of Russian and foreign people who went missing on the territory of the former Soviet Union. A joint Russian-US commission on prisoners of war and missing persons was set up to handle the matter. It aims to find out the fate of Russian/Soviet and US citizens who went missing during World War II and later conflicts and incidents.
This joint body helped clear out the fate of 29,000 US citizens who were repatriated from Soviet occupation zones after World War II. It found out circumstances of death of 140 US servicemen killed in the Korean war and over 20 who went missing in Cold War incidents.
The US party helped find information on 450 Soviet citizens who were earlier considered missing in World War II and data on pilots and submariners who died after World War II. They also found circumstances of death and burial sites of 57 Soviet servicemen who died in Korea and 63 others who disappeared in Afghanistan.
As many as 872 servicemen and policemen were included in the missing persons list from August 1, 1999 to May 21, 2001 and 547 of them were found. 684 servicemen who died in Chechnya from 1994 to 1996 were identified along with 2,369 who have died in the North Caucasus since August 1, 1999. Five Russian pilots captured in Angola were set free as well.