A letter to Khrushchev detailing the shooting down of a US U-2 aircraft that attempted to take photographs of Soviet troops on the island of Cuba.

Malinovsky provides military instructions in response to US Navy blockading access to Cuba.

Malinovsky warns Pliev of possible a American landing in Cuba and directs him to make preparations, a joint effort between Cuban and Soviet troops.

Protocol 60 details the first meeting of the Communist Party during the crisis. As Khrushchev is awaiting the announcement by President Kennedy of the discovery of missiles in Cuba, he and some of his colleagues briefly considered using tactical nuclear weapons in the event of a US airborne assault. But, at the suggestion of Soviet defense minister Rodion Malinovsky, the Kremlin postponed its consideration of a nuclear response pending details of Kennedy’s speech.The Kremlin wasted no time in taking steps to reduce the risks of confrontation. It ordered some ships that were still in the Mediterranean to turn around. The Aleksandrovsk, the ship carrying the nuclear warheads for the IRBMs (the R-14s), was ordered to keep sailing, however, because it was close enough to Cuban shores to dock before the blockade went into effect.