Skull fragment sparks dispute with Russia

HARTFORD, Conn., Sept. 30 (UPI) -- A Connecticut archaeologist who concluded a skull fragment found in a Berlin bunker wasn't Adolf Hitler's never examined it, a Russian official says.

Deputy Director Vladimir Kozlov of the Russian State Archive says there is no record that archaeologist Nick Bellantoni visited the facility housing the skull fragment recovered in the final days of World War II, The Hartford (Conn.) Courant reported Wednesday.

"I was definitely there. I'm on camera there," Bellantoni says.

Freelance videographers from Russia and the Ukraine will interview Bellantoni and his colleagues at the University of Connecticut Thursday to discuss the techniques they used in their examination.

Bellantoni's group concluded that the bullet-pierced skull fragment found by the Russians belonged to a woman 20 to 40-years old and not to a 56-year-old man.

The conclusion has provoked a strong reaction overseas, the newspaper says.