This memo from N. Mesyatsev, Chairman, Broadcast and Television Committee, Council of Ministers, analyzes Western radio “propaganda” and credits Western broadcasts with being “an effective tool of ideological intervention.” The document notes that the broadcasts pay attention to Soviet dissidents, and mentions their use of humor and Western music.

This lengthy review of foreign radio propaganda by Y. Novikov, an official of the USSR Gosteleradio [State Television and Radio] Guidance Department, pays particular attention to what it sees as Western broadcasters’ attempts to discredit Marxism-Leninism and Communist economics, as well as the notion of convergence between capitalism and Communism.

This document is the transcript of a VOA broadcast citing part of the Radio Liberation program mentioned in the 25 May TASS bulletin.

This TASS information bulletin was sent to the Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers. Note the distribution to Stalin and Malenkov only.

US Attaché in the Soviet Union Jack Matlock was invited to discuss the Final Act of the European Conference in Helsinki. The Soviet Union publicized the text of the Final Act and faulted the United States for not doing the same. Looking at the principles of the Final Act, which the Soviet Union believes to be the bases for interstate relations in Europe, the government determined that radio stations such as "Liberty," "Free Europe," and "Voice of America" are not compatible with the goals and provisions. The Soviet government would like to improve relations with American journalists by first quickening the visa process and hope that the US would do the same for Soviet journalists.

Mao Zedong and Kissinger's meeting was aimed at establishing political relations between China and the United States. They discussed the following issues: U.S.-Chinese cooperation, the differences in ideology, Western German policy towards the Soviet Union, the amount of American overseas troops, the Vietnam War, trade barriers between two nations, Chinese-Japanese relations, and the historical issues between Germany and Britain during WWII.

Panel commissioned by the White House and comprised of Zbigniew Brzezinski, William E. Griffith, John S. Hays, and Richard S. Salant recommends continuation of RFE and RL as covertly funded objective news services, along with VOA and RIAS, discontinuation of public solicitation of private financial donations to RFE, and (Hays dissenting) establishing a Radio Free China

Ambassador Llewellyn Thompson reports Anatoly Dobrynin’s denunciation of Radio Liberty (and other “subversive” radios) while noting the Soviet Union had stopped jamming Voice of America Russian.

The President’s Committee on Information Activities Abroad, chaired by Mansfield Sprague, concludes that RFE and RL are slow to adapt to changes in the Soviet orbit and resulting shifts in U.S. policy. [Also available in the Richard Helms Collection released by CIA in 2008.]

Foreign Service Officer David Mark, reporting in Moscow Dispatch No. 375, suggests changes in US policy to embrace reduction of “pressure-generating activities” on Eastern Europe, including Radio Free Europe (RFE). Ambassador Llwellyn E. Thompson dissents but suggests that RFE broadcasts might be halted in exchange for an end to Soviet jamming [of Voice of America and other Western broadcasts].