MOSCOW — A trove of archive documents dating back to Catherine the Great that were stolen after the Soviet breakup were returned to Russia by the U.S. on Friday.
The 21 documents include decrees issued by historical figures such as Czar Nicholas II and Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov. Among them are a top-secret paper on the reconstruction of Russian military airfields in the 1930s; and Catherine the Great’s decree to divide command of forces in Poland during the 18th century partitions of the country.
Russian officials alerted Washington about the documents when they appeared on websites of U.S. auction houses. U.S. officials seized them between April and November. No one has been charged in connection with the theft.