Telegram from USSR Foreign Ministry to Soviet diplomats in Washington, Havana, and New York

Telegram from USSR Foreign Ministry to Soviet diplomats in Washington, Havana, and New York,
28 October 1962

SOVIET EMBASSY WASHINGTON
SOVIET EMBASSY HAVANA        
Copy: New York                      
To Comrades Kuznetsov, Zorin  
   
        On 27 October of this year, the USA consul in Moscow sent a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs telling of the procedure introduced by the USA government with regard to the so-called quarantine, a procedure that will be carried out abroad by USA consulate officials, and within the United States by customs personnel.

        In accordance with this procedure, foreign ships bound for Cuba or in transit inside the interception area are required to present to the USA customs official a "Transit Notification" or a "Certificate of the Completion of Customs Formalities."

        Samples of the above-mentioned documents were appended to the letter.

        On 28 October of this year, the USA embassy forwarded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the text of the letter that Stevenson gave U Thant concerning the interception areas for vessels.

        Both documents have been returned to the American embassy.

        This is conveyed for purposes of intelligence and familiarization.

                        (illegibly signed)

[Source: Archive of Foreign Policy, Russian Federation (AVP RF), Moscow; copy obtained by NHK (Japanese Television), provided to CWIHP, and on file at National Security Archive, Washington, D.C.; translation by John Henriksen, Harvard University.]