State Duma Defense Committee head, Admiral Komoyedov, to visit Pentagon on May 23-24
MOSCOW. May 20 (Interfax) - The chairman of the Russian State Duma Defense Committee, Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov, will participate in the 20th plenary session of the United States-Russia Joint Commission on Prisoners of War and Missing in Action (POW/MIAs), the commission's press service said on Friday.
The anniversary session will take place in the U.S. Defense Ministry (Pentagon) in Washington, on May 23-24, the press service said. During the visit, the delegation will lay wreaths on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.
Co-chairman of the commission from the American side is General Robert Foglesong, the press service said.
The commission includes senators and members of Congress, officials of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, representatives of the Department of State, Intelligence Service, the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, the National League of POW/MIA Families and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Organization.
"High priority is given to the commission's work not only because the history of the 20th century's wars still has many unexplored facts. The main task today is not just discussion of the fates of the POWs, but also doing everything in our power for the servicemen of both global superpowers not to engage in combat again on the Korean peninsula, where they had already met 65 years ago, or in any part of the world," the press service of the State Duma Defense Committee quoted Komoyedov as saying.
"When I visit Arlington Cemetery, to pay the tribute to the memory of the American soldiers who died during the 20th century, I will see in my mind's eye, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin wall who also gave his life protecting the lives of others," he said.
Komoyedov heads the permanent working group on the Korean War (1950-1953).