U.S. bars Russian diplomats from Soviet graves on Alaska base – TASS

Dec 11 (Reuters) – U.S. officers barred Russian diplomats from visiting the graves of Soviet servicemen at a cemetery on a navy base in Alaska, Russian state company TASS mentioned on Sunday.

Russia’s embassy in Washington mentioned on the Telegram messaging app late on Saturday {that a} group of Russian diplomats had visited Anchorage on Friday and Saturday.

“Sadly, the native American authorities, with out rationalization, didn’t permit embassy diplomats to go to the Fort Richardson Nationwide Cemetery and kneel earlier than the graves of Soviet pilots and sailors who died in Alaska in 1942-1945,” TASS cited Russian diplomat Nadezhda Shumova as saying.

“Makes an attempt to acquire entry to the memorials by way of the State Division had been unsuccessful, the diplomatic notice of the (Russian) embassy on this regard was ignored.”

The State Division didn’t instantly reply to an e mail request for remark exterior enterprise hours.

A allow is required to entry the cemetery on the Fort Richardson U.S. Military set up, based on the cemetery’s web site.

Russian diplomats have visited the cemetery prior to now, the embassy mentioned on Twitter.

9 Soviet pilots and two different navy personnel are buried on the cemetery, TASS mentioned. They died whereas flying planes from america to the Soviet Union as half World Warfare Two Lend-Lease programme.

Lend-Lease was an effort, begun earlier than america joined the warfare, to produce allies with materiel deemed very important to the defence of america.

Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Enhancing by William Mallard

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