1986 was an exciting year in the world of foreign policy, especially for the Americans and Soviets. Here’s a brief rundown of events that sets the tone for this article:
March 7: The United States orders the Soviet Union to reduce staff members of the Soviet, Ukrainian, and Belorussian missions to the United Nations to a total of 170 by April 1, 1988.
March 14: The Soviets expel Michael Sellers, second secretary in the political section of the US Embassy in Moscow on charges of espionage.
May 14: The Soviets announce the expulsion of Erik Sites, and aide to the US military attaché in Moscow, for spying.
June 20: The United States expels Colonel Vladimir Ismailov, a military attaché to the Soviet Embassy in the US, for attempting to steal military secrets.
August 23: Gennadi Zakharov, a Soviet employee of the US Secretariat, is arrested by the FBI while attempting to buy classified material. After a court hearing, he departs for Moscow on September 30.
August 30: US News and World Report correspondent Nicholas Daniloff is arrested in Moscow for receiving documents containing classified material. He leaves Moscow for West Germany on September 29 and returns to the US the following day.
October 11-12: The Reykjavic Summit is held, with US President Ronald Reagan and General Secretary of the Communist Party Mikhail Gorbachev working to reduce and/or eliminate nuclear weapons. The talks collapse.
October 19: The Soviets order the expulsion of five American diplomats, less than a week after the withdrawal of 25 Soviet UN envoys from the United States, in line with the March 7 order.
October 21: The United States expels 55 Soviets, the largest mass expulsion in US history.
October 22: A Politburo is held in Moscow. Big feelings are expressed.
As with all Politburo meetings, scrupulous notes were taken, including records of the conversations. These records were often released as classified documents, given the sensitive nature of the topics. The record of the initial subject, that of the mass expulsion and how to respond to it, was classified Top Secret. The translation of that record is provided here.
Top Secret
Working record
Sole copy
MEETING OF THE POLITBURO OF THE CPSU CENTRAL COMMITTEE
22 October 1986
Chaired by Comrade M.S. GORBACHEV
Present: G.A. Aliyev, A.A. Gomyko, L.N. Zaykov, Ye.K. Ligachev, N.I. Ryzhkov, M.S. Solomentsev, V.M. Chebrikov, E.A. Shevardnadze, V.I. Dolgikh, B.N. Yeltsin, N.V. Talyzin, A.P. Biryukova, A.F. Dobrynin, M.V. Zimyanin, V.A. Medvedev, G.P. Razumovskiy, A.N. Yakovlev, I.V. Kapitonov
I. On steps associated with the US expulsion of Soviet personnel
GORBACHEV: We need to exchange views on steps associated with the new hostile action of the US administration. The evolution of events after Reykjavik indicates that our “friends” in the US have no constructive program, and doing everything to inflame the situation even more. In this case, they are acting extremely rudely and behaving like brutes.
SOLOMENTSEV: Yes, they are acting like highway bandits.
GORBACHEV: We cannot expect any kind of constructive actions or proposals from the US administration. In the current situation we have to score some propaganda points, and continue our offensive outreach work directed at not only the American, but also the international community. Washington officials fear this. For the last three days, all of the speech materials from Reykjavik and Soviet television are being held up in customs.
YAKOVLEV: Comrade Bugayev called me, and he said that these materials are being held up by American customs.
GORBACHEV: We need to press the American administration further, explaining our positions to the public, and pointing out that the Americans are the ones responsible for the failure to agree on the reduction and elimination of nuclear arms.
Lately, Reagan and his cronies haven’t found anything better to do than undertake this hostile act – expelling 55 Soviet diplomats. Five of our workers have been declared persona non grata, as they explain in Washington, in response to our expulsion of the 5 American diplomats, and the other 50 are being sent off under the pretext of ensuring an equal level of the numbers at the American and Soviet missions.
This hostile, anti-Soviet action demands a response. We cannot hold back at the strongest possible measures. The Americans are making threats, and assert that if we take any retaliatory actions, then they will take additional steps in terms of our diplomatic personnel in the US. Well then, I think that, in light of the limited Soviet-American ties, even in this case our embassy in the US will be able to cope with its mission.
I need serious proposals. What can be done, precisely? We can take our people out of the American embassy who work there as maintenance personnel. In addition, we should limit official visits by American representatives to the US Embassy in Moscow. Every year, as many as 500 American citizens come through these channels. Finally, for parity’s sake, the issue of permitting guests visiting the American ambassador in Moscow, which numbers up to 200 per year, should be resolved. Our people travel on business trips and visit the ambassador as guests quite rarely. We need to ensure that such trips in the future are made on an equal basis.
Overall, this confirms the words spoken to me by Reagan in Reykjavik, that clearly, normalizing Soviet-American relations is a matter for future generations.
SHEVARDNADZE: Our personnel in the embassy in the US number 243, and in the San Francisco consulate, there are 25. There are 229 in the US Embassy in Moscow, and 25 in the consulate in Leningrad. Moreover, there are 250 of our citizens working as maintenance staff working with the Americans. I recommend we recall them. This will have a noticeable effect on the activities of the American representatives. As far as business trips are concerned, up to 500 people visit the American Embassy every year. He hardly ever make use of this type of travel. In this matter, we need to introduce reciprocity. The Americans, as a result, will lose more than we will. We also don’t use personal invitations from the ambassador, whereas the American ambassador receives up to 180 people per year.
DOBRYNIN: And on top of that, the ambassador doesn’t even personally know many of these “guests.”
SHEVARDNADZE: There are 14 people from Finland working in the American Embassy from Moscow as maintenance staff. We should demand these individuals be removed, as well as 8 American diplomats suspected of unlawful activities. We must respond to the actions of the Americans in relation to the military attaché. That way, we will have the same number of workers as the Americans – 251 in the embassies, and 25 in the consulates.
In terms of the prevocational nature of the US administration’s actions, it should be noted that previously, the Americans established a quota of 320 people for our diplomatic missions. We have never fully met that quota.
GORBACHEV: We have to put all of this down in a well-argued manner and prepare a hard-hitting political document.
SHEVARDNADZE: This new hostile action was something the US administration needed because of the upcoming elections. Our document has to point this out, and state that if the Americans take retaliatory measures because of our actions, we’ll do the same.
GORBACHEV: Do my colleagues have any apprehension with these suggestions?
POLITBURO MEMBERS: No.
DOBRYNIN: It would be advisable to come to a decision with the consulates in Kyiv and New York.
GROMYKO: I think, given the current environment, we don’t accelerate the revelation. That would not make sense right now.
GORBACHEV: We should let the situation idle for now. In terms of our general strategy, we should act quietly but decisively. This is important not only from the point of view of Soviet-American ties, but also international relations overall. If the Americans will conduct dialogue with the Soviet Union in this way, one can only imagine what they will undertake with other countries.
I had a conversation with Nikolay Ivanovich [Ryzhkov]. He now plans to halt any further corn procurements from the Americans.
GROMYKO: That’s something we don’t have to talk about in our announcement, but carry it out de facto.
SOLOMENTSEV: Our document should include the numerical data that Comrade Shevardnadze spoke about.
DOBRYNIN: The Americans’ actions in relation to our military attaché are unprecedented.
GORBACHEV: And we should kick out all of the American military [attachés].
CHEBRIKOV: There’s one more backup plan we could use in our decree, if we had to. As I’ve already reported to the Politburo, we’ve found numerous monitoring systemsin our missions in the US. We could make that fact public in order to expose the American espionage, hold a press conference with a demonstration of the American eavesdropping spy devices.
GROMYKO: And how many of our listening devices have they found in their missions?
CHEBRIKOV: One. So the numbers are in our favor, 1:150.
GORBACHEV: That’s something to keep in mind.
SHEVARDNADZE: When should we publicize our announcement on the issue at hand?
GORBACHEV: As soon as the document is ready. We’ll take a look at it, then straight away broadcast it over radio and television, and have it published in the press.
POLITBURO MEMBERS: Right.
GORBACHEV: I had hoped to speak today at a press conference and show just how the Americans are carrying on after Reykjavik. To expose their lies and insulting behavior. But now, it seems, after the hostile action taken by the US administration, now is not the best time for that. It would probably be best to appear on television, instead of a press conference, to speak to our people.
RYZHKOV: Correct.
GORBACHEV: No new proposals will be presented in the speech, so there is hardly any need to make a special release of the speech’s text. Within the framework of the position we’ve identified, we should show that the US administration carries full responsibility for the breaking of the Reykjavik agreement, that they are carrying out shameful maneuvers in order to twists the facts and mislead the people. It could also be said that the sequence of events after Reykjavik shows that Reagan cannot control his mob.
GROMYKO: That can be said, but in a manner in which it does not free Reagan from any blame.
GORBACHEV: Yes. Reagan comes off as a liar. We have to find the appropriate wording for this issue.
Any proposals from my colleagues?
POLITBURO MEMBERS: No.
The resolution is adopted.
Translation © 2025 by Michael Estes and TranslatingHistory.org
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