MOSCOW, July 11. /TASS/. Russia and Germany have decided to resume joint work to establish the fate of WWII Soviet and German prisoners of war, a Russian defense ministry official said on Monday.

"This decision was announced on July 8, 2016 at a Moscow meeting of representatives of the Russian defense ministry’s department for commemorating soldiers who were killed while defending the motherland and Germany’s war graves union," Vladimir Popov, the Russian defense ministry’s department head, told journalists. "The sides discussed plans of cooperation for 2016 and 2017, as well as issues related to the resumption of a project on establishing the fate of Soviet and German prisoners of war and internees."

Popov said it is planned to establish two working groups: one in Moscow and one in Berlin and to hold regular working meetings. The first such meeting is scheduled for September 8-9 in Berlin.

Apart from that, in his words, it is planned to exchange data on Russian and German documents found in archives, including in third countries. Thus, he said specialists from his department are already working at the U.S. National Archives.