Poland to get access to Russian files on 1940 Katyn murder
Text of report in English by Polish news agency PAP
Moscow, 4 August: Poland will get access to the Russian files on Katyn and will get certified copies of files requested from 156 volumes collected during the Russian investigation into the 1940 killing of Polish officers in Katyn, head of the Institute of National Remembrance Leon Kieres said in Moscow on Wednesday [4 August] following talks at the Russian Military Prosecutor's Office.
Addressing Polish journalists Kieres said that talks "substantially" supplemented our knowledge about the investigation stage and collected materials. He added that the Russian side assured him that "the investigation had been carried on without any delay since the day of its launching in 1990". Meanwhile Witold Kulesza, head of the investigation department of the
institute said the Russian side did not plan to indict anybody in connection with the crime because it believes the crime cannot be qualified as a genocide.
As the Polish side thinks the contrary Kieres did not exclude the possibility of launching a Polish investigation. Over 20,000 Polish POWs, officers, policemen, physicians, professors and clergy were murdered by the NKVD in Katyn in 1940.