Washington (D.C.)

Soviet letter to US President Jimmy Carter responding to the US position on the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The CC CPSU Politburo informs the White House that the Soviet leadership desires to maintain detente with the US and that the intervention of Soviet troops was done at the request of the Afgan leadership, under Article 51 of the UN charter.

Soviet Ambassador to the US, Anatoly Dobrynin reports to the Soviet Ministry on the political situation in Washington at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Dobynin reports that US President John F. Kennedy has staked his reputation as a leader on a solution to the Cuban crisis and, as such, it is possible that he might take the gamble of invading Cuba.

Report on the exchanges between the KGB Station Chief in Washington and ABC News correspondent John Scali. They discuss possible Soviet actions in West Berlin in the case of an American invasion of Cuba and an American offer not to invade Cuba if Fidel Castro publicly pledges to dismantle the long-range missiles. Washington would agree to let Cuba keep the defensive-type missiles and might make a secret pledge to withdraw the American troops in the South.

Report on the reaction among DC politicians to Kennedy's decision to blockade Cuba.

Dobrynin relays a meeting with Lippmann in which the two discuss how close their respective countries were to war and the exchange of bases in Turkey.