Russia, US Discuss Cooperation in POWs, Missing Persons

According to Russian Defense Ministry, representatives of the Russian-American commission on prisoners of war met on Monday for the first time in a decade to discuss cooperation in the search for missing persons and prisoners of war.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Representatives of the Russian-American commission on prisoners of war met on Monday for the first time in a decade to discuss cooperation in the search for missing persons and prisoners of war (POW), the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"Co-chairs of the organization Robert Foglesong and Valery Vostrotin discussed the development of Russian-US humanitarian cooperation, information exchange and inter-party collaboration systems, and organizing archival searches for missing persons," the ministry press service said.

A US–Russia Joint Commission on Prisoners of War and Missing in Action (POW/MIAs) working group, meeting in Moscow, discussed preparatory steps for the upcoming 20th plenary session.

Vladimir Popov, in charge of Commission operations, and his deputy Andrey Taranov are expected to join co-chair Vostrotin from the Russian side.

The joint commission on POWs/MIAs, known in the United States by its acronym USRJC, was established in 1992 to account for World War II and Cold War-era service personnel.