SECUR'ity S/4385 14 July 1960 COUNCIL ENGLISH ORIGINAL: RUSSIAN
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UNITED NATIONS Distr. GENERAL SECUR'ITY s/4385 14 July 1960 COUNCIL ENGLISH ORIGINAL: RUSSIAN CABLE DATED 13 JULY 1960 FROM THE £i1INISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS ADDRESSED 1.r0 THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF TIIE UNITED NATIOim, TRAIifS!{['I'TING AN EXPLAliTATORY !I~v10RArmUlJ.l IN AMPLIFICATION OF HIS CABLE OF THE SAME DATE In amplification of my cable I am sending you herewith an explanatory memorandum cOl1ce:;:ning the question of "New aggressive acts by the Air Force of the United States of A.merica agains'c the Soviet Union, creating a threat to universal peace", which the Soviet Government is submitting for consideration by the Security Council. !.xpJ.a~or;y memor~~ For 'the second time this year the Government of the USSR is submitting to the United Kations Security Council the question of aggressive acts by the Air Force of the United States of A.~erica against the Soviet Union, creating a threat to universal peace. At the end of May 1960, the Security Co"uncil examined the question of encroachments upon the air space of the Soviet Union by aircraft of the United Sta'Ges Air Force ,-,hich had taken pla.ce on 9 April and 1 i~e,y 1960. Despite the fact that the Security Council in its resolution of 27 May 1960 appealed to all Govern~ents of States Members ~f the United Nations to respect each other's sovereignty, terr~toria1 integrity and political independence and to refrain from any action which might increase tensions, the Govern~ent of the United States of America, openly flouting that appeal and following its officially proclaimed policy of premeditated violation of the sovereign rights of other States, is continuing the provocative practice of despatching its military aircraft into the airspace of the Soviet Union. A new flagrant violation of the frontiers of the Soviet Union by an aircraft of the United States Air Force took place on 1 July 1960 in the Barents Sea near the Kola Peninsula. 60-17044 /... s/4585 English Page 2 An RB-47 six-engine ~connaissance bomber of the United states Air Force violated the state frontiers of the USSR at a point twenty-two kilometres north of Cape S~Jatoy Nos and proceeded in the direction of the city of Archangel. Notwithstanding the signals given by a Soviet fighter aircraft to follow it down and make a landing, the violating aircraft penetrated further into the airspace of the Soviet Union. Consequently, it was shot down over Soviet territorial waters to the east of Cape Svyatoy Nos at 6.05 p.m., Moscow time, on 1 July. According to the evidence given at their interrogation by the two crew members of the aircraft which was shot down, the navigator, First Lieutenant John Richard McKone and the co-pilot, First Lieutenant Freeman B. Olmstead, both of the United States Air Force, who were picked up in the territorial waters of the USSR, the aircraft in which they had been flying belonged to an air unit of the United states strategic military intelligence service 'Hhich was a part of \'7ing 55, and had been carrying out special military reconnaissance missions. The aircraft was armed with 20-millimetre guns with a full supply of ammunition and had a compartment containing special photographic and radio electronic reconnaissance equipment. According to the testimony of Olmstead and McKone, the RB-4·7 aircraft on vThich they had been flying had taken off at 10 a.m. Greenwich time on 1 July 1960 from the United States military base at Brize-Norton (United Kingdom) with instructions to return, after completing its mission, to the same base in the United Kingdom, where units of the United states Air Force were stationed, including the one to which it belonged. Before the take-off the members of the crew of the aircraft had been warned by Major Debelle, the Commanuer of their unit at the Brize-Norton base, that the flight was to be kept strictly secret and that the crew would not therefore be allovTed to maintain regular radio contact with the base. The testimony of the surViving United States airmen in the crevT of the RB-47 aircraft made it clear that they had had instructions to make a landing at a Norvlegian airfield in the event of an emergency. In addition, they stated that they had been authorized to make radio contact with an emergency station on the north west coast of Norway and that that radio station was to stand by to receive messages for the duration of the RB-47 flight. /... S/4;85 English Page :3 The new violation of the frontiers of the So~net Union by a United states military aircraft Sn-OliS that the Government of the United states of America is continuing to follow' a course which is endangering peace. Everyone nOif apprecit::'.ces the true value of the formal assertions made by the United states Government and by President EisenuGwer himself concerning the orders s~pposedly given by the President to put an end to flights OJr the United states Air Force over the territory of the USSR. The actions of the United States Government clearly constitute a prereeditated violation of the universally accepted rules of international law, a policy of deliberate ~rovocation designed ~o exacerbate the situation and to intensif,y the threat of i~r. At the same time, the United States of America is, as before, continuing to use for its aggressive nperations with respect to the Soviet Union the military bases it has established in the territories of other countries allied to the United States in military blocs. In ,~ew of the fact that, in the present instance, the violation of the frontier was halted at an early stage, the Soviet Government has considered it possible to confine itself to destroying the aircraft which committed the violation and to prosecuting the surviving members of its crew, who will be tried in strict conformity with Soviet law. 'l'he Government of the USSR has lodged a strong protest with the Government of the United States of America in connexion with the new violation df the Soviet frontier by a United States military aircraft which occurred on 1 July 1960. At the same time, the Soviet Government has warned the Government of the United States of America in the gravest terms of the dangerous consequences which will result from the continuation of the provocative activities of the United States Air Force and for which the Government of the United States of America will be responsible. The Soviet Union has done and is doing everything possible to avoid involving the peoples in the calamities of a new war. The blame for the trials to which the world is at present being subjected rests wholly with the Government of the United States of America. / ... S/4385 English rage 4 The Soviet Goverruneut must point out with deep regret that the Gove~nts of a number of States which are al~ied to the United States of America in military blocs have not yet drawn the appropriate conclusions from certain facts connected with the aggressive activities of the United States Air Force. In per~itting the use of the United States military bases situated in their ter~itories, they are continuing to pursue a policy of complicity in these aggressive activities and are thereby involving the peoples of their countries in the gravest danger. In this cormexion, the Soviet Government has also lodged a strong protest wjth the Governments of the United Kingdom and N~rway, because tb~ facts indicate that the territories of these countries are continuing to be used by the United States of America for the purpose of carrying out acts of aggression against the Soviet Union. The Soviet Government expects that, in view of the continuing acts of aggre8sion by the United States Air Force, the Security Council will give the most serious attention to the examination of the question of 11 New' aggressive acts by the United states Air Force, creating a threat to universal peace ll and 'nll resolutely censure these acts which endanger peace and to which no state displaying a genuine concern for the preservation of peace can remain indifferent. A. GROMYKO Minister for FOl'eign Affairs of the USSR..