May 24, 1972, Impressions of Meeting at Dacha

TOP SECRET/SENSITIVE/EYES ONLY IMPRESSIONS OF THE MAY 24, 1972 EVENING AT THE RUSSIAN DACHA (The President and Soviet Leadership) The Dacha and the Meeting The Dacha was in the suburbs of Moscow, an approximate 35 minute drive from the Kremlin. The area was heavily guarded, tranquil and beautifully wooded, with no other houses or buildings in sight. The Dacha is two stories high and is comfortable without being lavish, tasteful by Soviet standards, without being elegant. On the ground floor, there was a sitting rooma small office to the right of it as one enters and opposite that a comfortably appointed room designed for showing movies. To the left of the sitting room as one enters the building is a small con- ference room with an oval table, behind it an old grandfather clock, and otherwise rather sparsely furnished. The meeting was held here. It began at 8:00 p. m., a few minutes after the President, Dr. Kissinger and the Soviet leaders returned from a hydrofoil ride at sunset on the Moscow River. They were joined by Messrs. Lord and Negroponte who were waiting in the Dacha movie room, and the party moved immediately to the meeting room. The participants in the meeting sat somewhat crowded together around the oval table. There were nine persons at the table -- on our side the President with Dr. Kissinger and Mr. Lord to his left and Mr. Negro- ponte to his right. On the other side Brezhnev was in the center with Kosygin and Alexandrov, Brezhnev's special assistant for foreign affairs, to his right, and Podgorny and Sukhodrev, the interpreter, to his left. Another interpreter/notetaker sat behind Alexandrov. Nothing was served during the meeting, except for drinking water. It lasted three hours. The atmosphere was somber and the exchanges heated at times, in view of the topic under discussion, Vietnam. Brezh- nev did not recite any of his usual anecdotes and there was no humor from either side. Brezhnev and Podgorny both smoked heavily. The President also smoked one small Erik brand cigarillo. Shortly after he interjected very strongly during a Kosygin attack, the President offered cigars to the Soviet leaders, but they declined. DECLASSIFIED E.O. 12356, Sect. 3.4 TOP SECRET/SENSITIVE/EYES ONLY MR NLN 92-42/17 By SRG NARA, Date 2/5/96