174. Message From the Soviet Leadership1

On January 5, 1979, eavesdropping equipment, installed by the US special services, was found in the premises of the Soviet Consulate General in San Francisco. Photographs of the removed electronic de[Page 518]vices may be produced at the wish of the Secretary of State. In this connection we consider it necessary to state the following.

In the recent years the US special services have sharply intensified their activities aimed at technical penetration into the Soviet offices in the United States. For these purposes eavesdropping means, developed on the basis of advanced achievements of science and technology, are being used.

In the past we already drew attention of the US side to the inadmissibility of such actions which are directed to damage the Soviet-US relations. However, as the facts show, no appropriate conclusions have been made from these communications of ours.

The Soviet side states its strong protest in connection with the above-mentioned subversive actions of the US special services against the Soviet offices in the United States and demands that effective measures be taken to stop such activities.

Being guided by broad interests of the Soviet-US relations and expecting that our position will be duly appreciated by the US side we do not intend at present to make public the above facts concerning the activities of the US special services. However, in case of failure to take measures to discontinue such activities the Soviet side reserves the right to revert to this subject.

  1. Source: Department of State, Office of the Secretariat Staff, Special Adviser to the Secretary (S/MS) on Soviet Affairs Marshall Shulman—Jan 21, 77–Jan 19, 81, Lot 81D109, Box 4, CV–Dobrynin, 2/19/79. No classification marking. In the upper right-hand corner, an unknown hand wrote, “AD to CV 2/19/79.”