Search for remains of WWII Soviet Union soldiers in China

HARBIN -- China and Russia will start a search for the remains of the Soviet Union servicemen that died in battles in Northeast China in 1945, the local foreign affairs authority announced Monday.

The search will focus on Huoshao Mountain, Mudanjiang City, where 413 Soviet Union soldiers died fighting Japanese troops in August 1945, according to the municipal foreign affairs office.

The office said the search would begin soon.

Some 1.58 million Soviet Union soldiers fought in northeast China from Aug 9, 1945.

A local farmer, Liu Guanglin, found four bodies in August 2012 that were later confirmed to be Soviet Union soldiers.

In an preliminary search at the site in April, skulls, bones, bullets and mortar shrapnel was discovered.