Public Remarks

Remarks at a Document Repatriation Ceremony

William J. Burns, U.S. Ambassador to Russia

U.S. Embassy - Moscow, July 05, 2007

Thank you all for coming. I am pleased to have the opportunity today to return to the Russian Federation eighty documents of significant cultural and historical value that were illegally exported and offered for sale in the United States.

Several years ago the United States Government's Department of Homeland Security initiated an investigation into the sale of documents that we suspected were stolen from the archives of the Russian Federation. Working together with RosOkhranKultura, agents in Moscow and New York determined that a total of eighty official government documents signed by Tsar Nicholas the Second, Tsar Alexander the First , Vladimir Lenin, Marshal Zhukov, Nikita Khrushchev, and other Russian and Soviet leaders were unlawfully exported from Russia and illegally imported into the United States. These documents included government decrees and orders, memos and personal notes. Fortunately, our governments were able to obtain these documents before they were lost forever.

It is important to note that this is being accomplished in 2007, as we celebrate 200 years of U.S. – Russia diplomatic relations. Even though many people in Russia and the United States, are always quick to point out the difficulties and differences between us, today we are witnessing just one more area of cooperation.