In almost ten years of work the Russian part of the joint Russian-Swedish group has carefully checked and analysed all the most important archives of the Russian Federation and discovered quite a lot of new documentary information relating to the fate of Raoul Wallenberg and questioned living witnesses and the relatives of dead witnesses. Regarding the time factor, the possibility of investigating some new witnesses, who might have had useful information concerning Raoul Wallenberg, actually came to nothing. The publication of documents, that might in principle have opened up new opportunities, is presented by the group as extremely improbable. Altogether the work of the Russian part of the group has led to the following conclusions:
- All the circumstantial evidence confirms, that Raoul Wallenberg died, or most likely was killed, on 17th July 1947. Practically all the direct evidence was destroyed at the time. In the course of thorough investigative work, evidence was examined relating to the detention and arrest, or any other aspect of Wallenbergís time in prisons of the former USSR national security system. More reliable information was not found.
- The responsibility for the death of Raoul Wallenberg lies with the USSR government leaders of the time, since no other authority at the time could be in charge of the fate of the Swedish diplomat, representing a neutral government, a member of the ëWallenberg Houseí, both well known abroad and known specifically to the Soviet leader, Stalin. Individual blame as a ëcollaboratorí in this crime is carried by Abakumov, as the executor and key figure in the organisation of the physical removal of Wallenberg and the concealment of its evidence, and by Molotov, Vyshinskii and Dekanozov, providing foreign policy protection for the matter. Furthermore, there are weighty grounds for supposing that Molotov knew about the arrest and death of the diplomat, and moreover that, holding a responsible position, he slowed down the process of exposure of the committed crime.
- The conclusion therefore follows that the Soviet leadership as a whole were not keen to go into open discussions with the Swedish side It must be admitted that in ëcold warí conditions, the distrust was mutual. Both sides had to take a complicated path, before they began to leave their distrust of each other in the past. The start of the process of exposing the crime was set up by the processes of democratisation in Russia. In the latter, the fundamental principle was the clearing out of obstructed channels that had been started at the end of the 1980s.
- The Russian part of the joint Russian-Swedish group consider the task faced by the group to be resolved, and presents the results of its work to the leadership of the Russian Federation and Sweden. We believe that the work carried out can be of interest to the public.
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The Russian part of the group expresses its thanks to all the bodies and organisations, and also individuals, who gave their assistance in its work, personally ñ the Swedish and Russian members of the group and the experts, who over many years ñ whether acting as part of their official duty or by vocation ñ worked towards clarification of the fate of Raoul Wallenberg. -> More (the original texte)