Estonia Ready For Talks With Russia On Civilian, Military Burials

On Tuesday the government of Estonia approved the makeup of a commission for negotiations with Russia on matters of burial of civilians and military servicemen who died in the territory of the two states during the Second World War. In keeping with the agreement reached, Estonia pledges to take care of the burials of Russians and Russia of the burials of Estonians. The Russian-Estonian treaty On Military Burials is ready for signing. According to the Russian embassy in Estonia, the sides are conducting consultations on a matter yet unreflected in the draft agreement -- what organisation is to be held responsible for the conduct of survey work. "Russia and Estonia have a desire to undersign the document upon coordination already in 2002", stressed the Russian embassy. In preliminary information, the remains of 15,000 Soviet soldiers have not been buried in the territory of Estonia. Most of them died on the Narva bridgehead in 1944.