MOSCOW (Sputnik) – John Tefft handed over the Russian side 28 historical documents that were illegally taken out of the country more than 20 years ago. The ceremony, which will be attended by representatives of the Russian archives and the Culture Ministry will be held in the ambassador's residence Spaso House.
"It shows America cares about Russian history, Russian culture, and we also really are a nation of laws. Bad guys stole these things from the Russian archives, we caught them and are bringing it back, and I think that sends a good message. I think this in some ways is very unpolitical in the sense it just shows that we're good, honest people, and we try to really know how important these types of historical documents really are, we'd treasure these ourselves," Tefft stated before ceremony of returning historical documents which were stolen from the Russian archives in the early 1990s and 2000s.
The US Embassy said earlier that the return of the documents became a symbol of the continuity of the Russian-US cooperation, which was ongoing even during the cooling of bilateral relations.
Among the artifacts to be returned are decrees signed by Peter the Great, Anna Ioannovna, Elizaveta Petrovna (Elizabeth of Russia), Paul I, a 1944 decree signed by Joseph Stalin and 17 drawings made by architect Yakov Chernikhov.
