KGB REPORT. ANDROPOV’s suggestion to BREZHNEV that SOLZHENITSYN could be expelled from USSR to the FRG with the cooperation of Willy Brandt [Excerpt, no Russian text currently available]. 3 pp.

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… On 8 February our representative met with Brandt’s trusted agent in order to discuss the practical aspects of Solzhenitsyn’s deportation from the Soviet Union to the FRG.

The following decision, suggested by the FRG representative, was reached as a result of this discussion.

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On the evening of 12 February the Soviet ambassador in Bonn Comrade Falin will contact State Secretary P. Frank […] with a request to receive him on urgent business at 8.30 am on 13 February.

On 13 February at 8.30 am Comrade Falin will be received by Frank, who should make an announcement about Solzhenitsyn’s deportation. (The text of this announcement is to be presented separately, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.)

A meeting of the Cabinet begins at 10.00 am. Brandt will instruct Bahr, Frank and a representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to adopt a positive decision. At the request of the West German authorities the plane carrying Solzhenitsyn must be a regular flight, and arrive at Frankfurt-am-Main at 5 pm (local time) on 13 February.

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From the moment Solzhenitsyn leaves the plane Soviet representatives will cease participating in this operation … If at the last minute Brandt, despite all his assurances, changes his decision for one reason or another, Solzhenitsyn will remain under arrest and the procurator’s office will investigate his case.

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NOTES

Early in 1974 there was a debate in the Politburo as to whether to imprison or deport Solzhenitsyn. That text is available in this archive: 7 January 1974* (Pb).

For a contemporary, uncensored account of the events leading up to Solzhenitsyn’s expulsion from the USSR on 13 February that year, see A Chronicle of Current Events (Moscow) CCE 32.1, July 1974.

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GENERAL

1. Notes and additions by translator and editor are bracketed, thus [ ];
2. Text added by hand is indicated in italic script;
3. when a handwritten phrase, figure or word has been inserted in a previously typed document it is indicated by underlined italic script.

Translation and annotation, John Crowfoot

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