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Document No. 41: Minutes of Summit of Warsaw Pact Leaders in Bucharest, July 5–7, 1966 ——————————————————————————————————————————— After a series of unproductive meetings of the allies, this PCC session finally produced agreement on certain issues important to the Soviets. The relatively free-wheeling discussion prompted a senior Romanian official to later comment that this was the first high-level gathering where widely divergent views were both discussed and accepted. The issue of Vietnam prompted loud arguments between the Soviets, Romanians and Poles. At one point, Brezhnev became so upset at Ceaușescu —who had proposed 20 separate amendments to a Soviet declaration on the Vietnam War—that he threatened to sign the document even without Romania. Ceaușescu retorted that he would then publish his own declaration. Eventually the Poles and the Romanians agreed to remove some of their revisions and the document was finally signed. Another major topic was European security. Again, the sides managed to reach a compromise that incorporated Romania’s calls for the removal of foreign troops and bases and the dissolution of military blocs. The final agreement, the so-called Bucharest Declaration, did not invite United States participation in a planned European security conference, but did not explicitly exclude it either. Other subjects discussed in Bucharest included principles of exchanging information among Warsaw Pact partners and relations with China, including a recent meeting between Ceaușescu and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai. ____________________ Record of the Statements of the Delegation Chiefs at the Unofficial Meeting of first Secretaries and Premiers of the Governments of Member-States of the Warsaw Treaty. […] Brezhnev: […] This morning we had an exchange of opinions regarding the possible inclusion in the text of the Declaration of a formulation proposed by Cde. Novotný regarding the accountability of the United States for damages due to the aggressive activities of the U.S. The Soviet delegation supports this proposal. Such a formulation would include two ideas. First, that all of us together with the Vietnamese nation run a ledger regarding losses inflicted on Vietnamese cities, villages, and industrial facilities, etc. from American bombings. And that the world society together with the Vietnamese nation will present such a bill to the American government, to the American aggressors. Second thought—that world public opinion will come out with a political accusation against the American aggressors as war instigators, similar to the case of the Second World War against the Hitlerites. Novotný: Stating his proposition precisely, said: We present the bill for material and human losses. 225 Brezhnev: One does not present a bill for humans, there is no price for a human life. We can talk about accountability for war and material losses inflicted on Vietnam. Ceaușescu: We can connect the first idea with the second, saying that the Americans should take responsibility as war instigators for crimes committed against the civilian population as was the case after the Second World War. Brezhnev: One can exclude the DRV [Democratic Republic of Vietnam]—it is not conducting a war, it is defending itself. And that is why one should formulate this sharply. […] Gomułka: It would be best if our document had a more concrete character. It should be in the form of a note rather than a resolution. Besides, I think that we should avoid a formulation such as “we are presenting a bill.” […] Ceaușescu: The declaration we adopt should be a very strong document, it cannot have the character of a diplomatic note. It should reflect the determined will of the socialist countries that sharply condemn American imperialism; it should demand an immediate condemnation of the aggression. If they continue their aggressive activities we will also be obliged to take other steps. As far as the matter of solidarity with Vietnam, it must be an appeal to all governments of the world and to democratic movements, so they develop a broad movement in defense of Vietnam. This meets the Vietnamese comrades’ plea and the appeal of the National Liberation Front published today, which called on socialist countries to support Vietnam.If we did not publish such a declaration, the world would not understand why the party first secretaries and government premiers assembled . This has meaning not only for Vietnam. This will be an expression of our decisiveness also toward the German problem and generally to world problems. After all, it is the first time in a long time that the representatives of seven socialist countries have assembled in order to...

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