Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Presidium Protocol 61

Present: Brezhnev, Kozlov, Mikoyan, Polyansky, Suslov, Khrushchev, Shvernik, Kosygin, Grishin, Demichev, Ilichev, Ponomarev, Shelepin, Gromyko, Kuznetsov.

On the return of the ship carrying special cargo.

Khrushchev

Return it.

I. On the response to Kennedy

Khrushchev, Gromyko

Do not get into a petty exchange of insults with the same arguments.

Compose a letter to Kennedy as dictated.

Get accustomed to it. How [to proceed] further.

Dismantle the missile installations.

We have made Cuba a country that is the focus of the world’s attention.

You give a commitment not to touch Cuba, and we will give our consent to the dismantling and then will permit UN inspectors to verify it.

Kozlov, Mikoyan, Ponomarev, Brezhnev, Suslov, Kosygin

A correct and reasonable tactic. Now Cuba is not the same as it was before the events. Do not aggravate the situation. In this manner we will strengthen Cuba.

On the instructions to Cde. Zorin concerning the resolution introduced by Ghana and the U[nited] A[rab] R[epublic]^[1] at the Security Council

Gromyko, Mikoyan, Kozlov, Kuznetsov, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Ponomarev, Polyansky, Ilichev

Mikoyan. He proposes not to abstain in the vote for the resolution introduced by Ghana and the UAR, and instead to vote “in favor.”

Cde. Zorin has proposed this correctly. Affirm the instructions to Cde. Zorin.

III. On the response to UN Secretary General U Thant

The text proposed by the Min. of For. Aff. is not suitable.

Say briefly: “We agree with your proposal.”

Affirm the response to U Thant.

VI. Cde. Gromyko’s message about the delegation’s work at the UN’s XVII Session

Approve the delegation’s work

[1] Translator’s Note: Egypt was renamed the United Arab Republic (UAR) from 1958 to 1972, but the UAR as an entity essentially ceased to exist after the planned merger between Egypt and Syria broke down in 1961. From then until 1972, the UAR and Egypt were one and the same.