Moscow grateful to U.S. for return of stolen archive documents, expect such cooperation in other areas – foreign ministry

MOSCOW. March 4 (Interfax) – The Russian Foreign Ministry hails the return from the U.S. of the documents that disappeared from Russian archives, back in 1990s, and hopes that this experience in Russia-U.S. cooperation will be in demand in other areas too.

“We are grateful to the American side for the cooperation in the discovery and repatriation to Russia of 28 unique documents which were stolen from the archives in our country in 1990s, and illegally taken to the U.S. Among the files returned on March 3, there are several original copies of the decrees issued by eight Russian emperors, as well as other relics,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in its commentary published on its website on Friday.

“A positive result has been achieved, thanks to many years of the joint work by the two countries’ respective government agencies and law enforcement authorities,” it said.

“We would like to expect this experience of a pragmatic, non-politicized cooperation to be sought for in many other areas of the Russia-U.S. relations that have, for two years, been affected by a negative impact from the sanction policy pursued by the U.S. administration,” the ministry said.

It was reported earlier that the U.S. handed over to Russia 28 historical documents stolen from Russian archives in early 1990s, and discovered by officers of the investigative service of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.