The State Archives of the Russian Federation published a recording of a conversation that took place on December 5, 1981 between Deputy Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers Leonid Kostandov and German Ambassador to the USSR Andreas Mayer-Landrut.
Yuri Zaritovsky / RIA Novosti
Germany was concerned about the fate of Academician Sakharov, who went on a hunger strike.
An archival recording was published on the Telegram channel “Documentary Past” that sheds new light on the relationship between West Germany and the Soviet Union. The conversation was devoted primarily to new large industrial orders, including those related to the construction of gas pipelines to Western Europe, in which German companies were clearly interested.
It was preceded by a visit to Germany by the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev, who held negotiations with the German leaders on the development of economic ties. The main theses resulting from the visit were consolidated by a decision of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. The German ambassador referred to this document.
According to Kostandov, there is a lot of nervousness and concern in German business circles over the fact that “there is still a big gap between the initially expected volume of orders from German companies for equipment and materials for the construction of the “Western Siberia – Western Border of the USSR” gas pipeline and their actual volumes.”
German companies wanted to receive an adequate share of the orders, as stated in a letter from German Economics Minister Lambsdorff. The ambassador handed this letter with a Russian translation to Kostandov.
The latter assured the German ambassador that the decision of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU contained instructions that the agreements reached by Brezhnev during his visit to Germany would be strictly and fully respected.
It was also tasked with expanding existing ties in economic, scientific, technical, cultural and other spheres, and seeking new opportunities for cooperation.
“Both sides need to act more boldly and decisively in this regard,” Kostandov told the German ambassador, noting that he had already met with representatives of the German company Hoechst earlier that day, during which the parties discussed a number of cooperation projects.
In particular, the issues of possible cooperation in the production of gasoline from methanol were discussed. As for the gas pipeline, Kostandov promised to study this issue, but noted that orders for equipment for the pipeline depend on the competitiveness of German companies and the commercial conditions they can offer.
The parties agreed that it would be necessary to conclude an intergovernmental agreement that would also provide for the supply of Soviet gas to West Berlin. And after that, Meyer-Landrut, unexpectedly for such a conversation, brought up the subject of Academician Sakharov.
“The German ambassador is trying to carefully raise the issue of Academician Sakharov, who was exiled in Gorky and recently went on a hunger strike,” the State Archive of the Russian Federation reports. “From the Soviet version of the conversation it seems that Mayer Landrut speaks of the hunger strike as an annoying obstacle to the development of cooperation due to “hype” “in the Western press.”
“If something happens to him, if he dies, it will have a negative impact on scientific and technical cooperation,” the German ambassador warned. The Soviet interlocutor in the Council of Ministers, however, refused to speak on this subject and dismissed the question raised.
