Of the 5.7 million Soviet prisoners of war captured by the Germans, more than 3.5 million had died while in German captivity by the end of the war.[12] On 11 February 1945, at the conclusion of the Yalta Conference, the United States and United Kingdom signed a Repatriation Agreement with the USSR.[13] The interpretation of this Agreement resulted in the forcible repatriation of all Soviets regardless of their wishes.[14] Millions of Soviet POWs and forced laborers transported to Germany are believed to have been treated as traitors, cowards and deserters on their return to the USSR (see Order No. 270).[15][16] Statistical data from Soviet archives, that became available after Perestroika, attest that the overall increase of the Gulag population was minimal during 1945–46[17] and only 272,867 of repatriated Soviet POWs and civilians (out of 4,199,488) were imprisoned.[18]