Russia Urges Japan to Discuss Addition of Maizuru Collection to UNESCO List

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Japan should discuss with Russia the inclusion of the collection of the Maizuru Repatriation Memorial Museum on the Soviet Union's wartime detainees in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Program.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Japan should discuss with Russia the inclusion of the collection of the Maizuru Repatriation Memorial Museum on the Soviet Union's wartime detainees in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Program, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

At the 12th meeting of UNESCO’s International Advisory Committee (IAC) in Abu Dhabi, Japan made a proposal to register memorial documents of those Japanese soldiers who had been prisoners of Soviet Union during World War Two and then returned to their homeland though the Japanese port in Maizuru.

"We believe that the dialogue on this topic should be conducted only via the official inter-governmental channels. The Japanese side has not only avoided such a conversation, but also distorted terminology of the bilateral documents, which was arrived at by the parties based on the balance of their interests," the Foreign Ministry said.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Russia fulfils the conditions of the agreement reached on April 18, 1991 fairly, and continues to collaborate with the Japanese side in searching for new information and materials on the subject.