Protocol 61 indicates Khrushchev was already taking steps away from the crisis unfolding. Khrushchev decided that the ships carrying the IRBM missiles (the R-14s) on the high seas should turn around and come home.

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.

Protocol 39 gives some evidence that Khrushchev was thinking about more than just Cuba. Khrushchev discussed the importance of getting the US to stop flying over the ships heading to Cuba. After discussing the timetable for sending the missiles to Cuba, Khrushchev led his colleagues in a re-examination of the Soviet Union’s policy on West Berlin. Berlin had not been a topic of discussion for months.

January 25-26, 1968. F. Castro speaks of relations with the US and Kennedy, friendship with the USSR, as well as placement of missiles, security issues as the US's imperialistic nature, while extolling the virtures of socialism, Cuba, and "The Revolution." Castro also stresses that Soviet withdrawal of weapons from Cuba is a blow to the international Communist movement.

Report form Carlos Rafael Rodriguez about his interview with Nikita Khrushchev in Moscow on 11 December 1962. "Dinner with Khrushchev" notes: Rodriguez writes about a dinner he attended with Mikoyan, Khrushchev, official delegates, and friends.

Khrushchev expresses outrage at Kennedy’s establishment of quarantine in Cuba.

Kuznetsov’s record of a conversation with U Thant discussing the dismantling of Russian weapons and the American quarantine.