Telegram, in response to the President of the USA, regarding the issue of the Soviet military personnel in Cuba

Concerns US-Soviet relations, including involvement in Africa, NATO, China, and SALT.

Information on the situation in the Middle East prepared by KGB Chairman Yuri Andropov in April 1973, prior to a 7 May 1973 discussion in the Politburo.

Andropov stated that given the increase in anti-Israeli propaganda in Egypt and Syria, as well as the heightened state of readiness of their armies, it was possible that a coalition of Middle Eastern states could resume military operations against Israel before, or during the upcoming Nixon-Brezhnev summit.

To prevent this, the KGB initiated a series of active measures. Specifically, they dispatched KPSU Politburo Candidate Member K.G. Mazurov to speak with Egyptian President Sadat and Syrian President Assad on the USSR’s behalf; informed the United States government through unofficial channels that a resumption of hostilities in the Middle East was not in Moscow’s interests; delayed the delivery of new Soviet surface to surface missiles to Egypt; and dispatched a well known Soviet journalist specializing in Middle Eastern affairs to Cairo and Damascus to study the situation.

CPSU CC Plenum meeting (excerpt) concerning the deterioration in relations with the US and NATO countries. Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko describes the altruistic nature of Soviet intentions in aiding Afghanistan.

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.

The Politburo discusses the internal economic situation within the Soviet Union, the situation in Afghanistan (in particular the group "Parcham" and Karmal), relations with the US, and the treatment of Jews in the USSR.

This memo includes the response of Brezhnev to President Carter's address concerning Afghanistan and US-Soviet relations.