Minister of Foreign Affairs E. Shevardnadze, Minister of Defense D. Yazov, and Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers V. Kamentsev discuss Soviet military committments in the Warsaw Pact and various bilateral agreements on friendship, cooperation, and mutual assistance in a letter to Mikhail Gorbachev.

The Soviet leadership discusses the state of Soviet foreign policy after the Hungarian crisis and Khrushchev’s visit to the US. Molotov criticizes Khrushchev for recklessness in foreign policy direction. Soviet inroads in the Middle East and the Third World are analyzed. The effects of the crises in Eastern Europe are placed in the context of the struggle against US imperialism.

At this session of the Presidium, Mikoyan argues that in the face of a universal demand for troop withdrawal the best option is to support the Hungarian government. Mikoyan promotes negotiations over force. The other members support the application of force to put down the uprising. Supporters of force refer to the necessity of keeping Hungary within the Soviet sphere and preventing the uprising from spreading to other Eastern European nations.

This plan focuses on developing and strengthening bilateral ties between the two countries in the areas of science, technology, security operations and criminology. It also calls for the sharing of best practices of propaganda methods, roadway security and oversight, education of government officials and administrative organization of bureaus such as the Ministry of the Interior. Provisions are made to exchange methods designed to improve the systems of permit, passport and visa issuance and registration of aliens. The sharing of best practices to reduce alcohol abuse, vagrancy, recidivism and youth crime is discussed as well.