Moscow to declare Katyn massacre victims innocent (AP)
MOSCOW ? Russia's foreign minister says Moscow is ready to declare victims of the Katyn massacre innocent.
About 2,000 Polish officers and other prisoners were killed by Soviet secret police in western Russia in 1940 on charges accusing them of being enemies of the Soviet state.
The Katyn massacre has been straining relations between Russia and Poland for decades.
Sergei Lavrov said in a radio interview on Friday that Moscow is "ready to consider a perfectly legitimate request to declare these people innocent."
Several Polish families went to the European Court of Human Rights to prove the victims' innocence. Lavrov said Russia is eager to solve the issue out of court.
The Soviets falsely blamed the massacre on the Nazis for years, but Russia's parliament admitted last year the killings were ordered by Soviet leader Josef Stalin.
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