MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th September, 2020) The growing cooperation between the Russian Investigative Committee and German agencies will contribute to progress in the probe into Nazi crimes, committed during World War II, Investigative Committee chief Alexander Bastrykin said in an interview with Sputnik.
Thomas Will, the deputy head of Ludwigsburg's central department for investigation of National Socialist crimes, has previously told Sputnik that Germany favors expanding cooperation with the Russian Investigative Committee on the Nazi crimes probe.
"We are currently establishing cooperation with the central department for investigation of National Socialist crimes in Ludwigsburg, subordinate to the states of Germany's justice agencies. This cooperation will certainly give extra impetus to the investigation of such crimes," Bastrykin said.
According to the available archives, at least 2 million civilians were killed on the territory of Soviet Russia during the occupation. Not all the facts have been investigated yet, and not all the criminals have been identified and brought up before court. Thanks to the effort on excavations and work with archives, the Russian Investigative Committee has managed to establish details related to the tragic mass murders of civilians in the Novgorod region, the Krasnodar region and the Rostov region. Last year, the Investigative Committee initiated criminal cases in connection with murders of more than 30,000 Soviet citizens.
Ludwigsburg's central department for investigation of National Socialist crimes has helped Russia to identify two out of 19 members of Nazi death squads, who supposedly engaged in military crimes in the Novgorod region from 1941-1943.
