London, May 2 (IANS) A former Russian officer who burnt the bones of German dictator Adolf Hitler refuses to reveal where the ashes were scattered.

Vladimir Gumenyuk, 73, is said to be the last man alive from a three-member team sent in 1970 to dig up the bones of Hitler, his mistress Eva Braun and the remains of the dictator's close associate Joseph Goebbels and his family.

Gumenyuk is concerned that if he tells where the ashes were scattered, it could become a place for neo-Nazi pilgrimages, The Sun reported.

"We were ordered to burn the remains of Hitler and all his entourage, and blow them to the wind," Gumenyuk was quoted as saying.

The bones, which were dug up near Magdeburg in former East Germany, were burnt. Then the team drove to the top of a cliff on a stream, where the ashes were scattered.

He said they had posed as fishermen.

"No one was there - 20 seconds and the job was done. It was just the last flight of the Fuhrer."

Gumenyuk told a Russian newspaper: "There are still too many neo-Nazis. There would be pilgrimages. They'd even put up a monument."