Japan To Reclaim Officers’ Remains From War Camps

The remains of 86 Japanese officers who died in Soviet prison camps after World War II will be returned to Japan this summer, Russian news agencies reported Tuesday.

A Japanese delegation spent three days visiting Kazan, 450 miles east of Moscow, and other cities in the Tatarstan region, where prison camps were located. It examined the cemeteries where the officers were buried, the ITAR-Tass news agency said.

As soon as winter snows melt, Japanese specialists will come to Russia to exhume the corpses, the news agency said.

In line with Japanese tradition, the remains will be cremated and the urns sent to Japan, the Interfax news agency said.

Of 600,000 Japanese POWs held in the Soviet Union after the war, about 60,000 died and were buried there.

Russia and Japan have never signed a peace treaty formally ending hostilities.