“Number of classified files stored in state archives had been reduced almost twice for the last three years. As of 1 January, it makes up to 79,105 depository items (0.19% of the total number of depository items in the archives). There are 72,680 depository items of files containing documents having been classified in Soviet times,” the State Archives Service reports.
Classified documents of the USSR mostly consist of the funds of superior bodies and state management, armed forces and national economy agencies.
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Meanwhile, the State Archives Service of Ukraine fails to provide the number of access denials for users willing to work with certain documents.
“An archival establishment is entitled to deny access to documents for a user based on the Law of Ukraine On the National Archives Fund and Archival Documents and the Procedure of the use of documents of the National Archival Fund of Ukraine, belonging to the state and municipalities. The above procedure was approved by the order of the State Committee of Archives of Ukraine as of 24 November 2005 No.139 and registered by the Justice Ministry of Ukraine on 9 December 2005 under No.1473/11753. The State Archives of Ukraine has no data on the number of access denials for users as to certain documents within archival establishments,” the comment says.
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As Ukrainian Week earlier reported, Historian Volodymyr Vyatrovych, head of the academic board of the Center of the Liberation Movement Studies, has stated Ukraine still having problems with the access to certain archival materials, in particular those concerning the USSR period.
