Minutes of CPSU CC Politburo Meeting, 27 September 1979 (excerpt)

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MEETING OF THE CC
CPSU POLITBURO
27 September 1979

Chaired by Comrade BREZHNEV, L.I.
Attended by Coms. Grishin, V.V., Kosygin, A.N., Suslov, M.A., Ustinov, D.F., Chernenko, K.Y., Demichev, P.N., Ponomarev, B.N., Solomentsev, M.S., Tikhonov, N.A.,Gorbachev, M.S., Dolgikh, V.I., Zimianin, M.V., Kapitonov, I.V., Rusakov, K.V.

[. . .] 5. About a response to the President of the USA regarding the issue of the Soviet military personnel in Cuba

BREZHNEV. Last night Carter once again appealed to us via the hot line regarding the issue of the story they have dreamed up about the presence of our military brigade in Cuba. There is nothing new in the message. We informed Com. Gromyko, who is conducting negotiations with Vance, about that.

Today Com. Gromyko sent a rough draft of a response to that telegram.

I think that we must assign the same commission to urgently and attentively review, and if necessary, rework this draft, after which, as Com. Gromyko suggests, having agreed with Fidel, we will send our response to Washington, to Carter.
The comrades are familiar, evidently, with the draft. The telegram was distributed.

KOSYGIN. I agree with the draft response, but with a minor editorial correction. I would strike three [sic--trans.] words: "...and to be ruled by cold reason."

BREZHNEV. Comrades Aleksandrov, A.M. and Ponomarev, B.N. also have corrections.

ALEKSANDROV. I would like to suggest beginning the text of the letter with the following: "First of all, I must openly tell you, Mr. President, that we are extremely surprised by the openly hostile to the Soviet Union campaign which has been launched in the USA with the active participation of the Administration, for which the United States has absolutely no real reasons and no legal basis. It seems to us that the only result of the swelling of this artificially created campaign can be a real loss to the relations between our countries and to the stability of the peace, the importance of which we discussed in Vienna."

BREZHNEV. Com. Ponomarev, B.N. also supports this proposal.

If the comrades have no other remarks, then let us approve the text of this letter taking into account the proposed corrections and send it for agreement with Com. Castro. And if no remarks arrive from Com. Castro, then it follows that we should send the letter to Carter via the hot line.

RUSAKOV. Perhaps it is necessary to assign the MFA to prepare a text of information on this issue for the leadership of the brother parties of the socialist countries, with the exception of Romania.

BREZHNEV. If there are no more remarks, let us accept such a resolution.

ALL. We are agreed.

[Source: APRF, f. 3. op. 120, d. 42, ll. 335, 339-40; translation by Mark Doctoroff.]