Access to the so called “Trophy” archives of the Russian Federation
Written question
No.
644 to the Committee of Ministers
| Doc. 13310
| 26 September 2013
In its Opinion 193 (1996) on the application
by Russia for membership of the Council of Europe, the Parliamentary
Assembly stated that:
- The Parliamentary
Assembly notes that the Russian Federation shares fully its understanding
and interpretation of commitments entered into as spelt out in paragraph
7, and intends:
- (...) to negotiate claims for the return of cultural property
to other European countries on an ad hoc basis that differentiates
between types of property (archives, works of art, buildings, etc.)
and of ownership (public, private or institutional);
- (...) to settle rapidly all issues related to the return
of property claimed by Council of Europe member States, in particular
the archives transferred to Moscow in 1945;
Furthermore, in the year 2000 the Committee of Ministers adopted
its Recommendation No. R (2000)13 to member States on a European
policy on access to archives, which is also in force for the Russian
Federation as a full member of the Council of Europe.
Mr Toshev,
To ask the Committee of Ministers:
- How the Committee of Ministers is monitoring the implementation
of its Recommendation No. R (2000) 13 by member States and in particularly
by the Russian Federation in respect of the so called “Trophy” archives
which were transferred to Moscow in 1944-1945.
