Chapter 1048 Discussion in the Kremlin

Facing this Second Secretary, who was still two years younger than himself, Brezhnev showed great respect.

In his eyes, Kozlov was a very bad-tempered man, and the only one in Soviet politics today who dared to contradict Khrushchev himself to his face, and no one else.

Kozlov has very good relations with the military and is trusted by the Ministry of Defense as well as the military industry.

Diplomatically Kozlov was a representative of the hardliners, even considering Khrushchev’s détente to be too mild, and firmly believing that the imperialists would never stop killing us, and that the Soviet Union should counterattack at the right time, instead of pretending to be friendly.

So in this case of the Congo, if there was one person in the USSR who convinced Khrushchev to give it a try, it was Kozlov who was the only candidate.

Kozlov, who hadn’t been answering, suddenly stopped and inquired, “Ilyich, the imperialist encirclement network against the Soviet Union is like a choke point, if we take the initiative on the Congo issue, will we be able to relieve this pressure.”

“I see no problem, Comrade Kozlov.” Brezhnev whirled around to express his approval, “The Congo is the well-deserved center of Africa, and if we strike when the enemy is disunited, we will be able to test out whether the imperialists are united with each other.”

“Maybe they’ll pass the buck to each other afterward? We don’t know them yet!” Kozlov paused at this, “Some comrades abroad are quite critical of our moderation, how do they know our difficulties?”

In World War II the Soviet Union was the worst hit country without one, the Soviet Union’s loss of 27 million is the number of casualties, not casualties, the Soviet Union’s casualty figures have not been published, but as a high-ranking Kozlov of course know that the casualty figure is 70 million.

It would take a few more years for the population born after the war to enter society, so even though Kozlov had always advocated being tough on the outside world and had no desire for a showdown with the imperialists, there were always people in his own camp urging the USSR to fight a showdown with the imperialists.

Brezhnev, of course, knew who was being spoken of, and nodded, “It is true that the comrades in the East are too radical.”

“But away from Europe, it is worth a try.” Kozlov frowned when he saw Brezhnev agreeing with him, “We can’t always be passive and not counterattack.”

As they spoke the two entered the Kremlin, and with them came the KGB chairman, Sherepin, the central secretary, Foltseva, and the leaders of the important departments of Gromyko and Suslov.

Lumumba, a man who had been in the sights of the Soviet hierarchy since the beginning of the year, when Lumumba was still only a party leader, went to Brussels, the capital of Belgium, to participate in a round table to discuss the matter of independence.

If even this kind of person is not noticed, then there is no doubt that it is a dereliction of duty on the part of the KGB, and there is no need for the General Directorate of Foreign Intelligence to continue to exist, and naturally, as the new chairman of the KGB, Sherepine cannot accept this accusation.

The bigwigs lined up to sit down, and Shelepin took out an important piece of intelligence about the situation in the Congo, “There is evidence that this man Lumumba has been on the must kill list, and the British and Americans want to solve this third world leader who is pursuing independence and autonomy through assassination.”

“Is the information true?” Foltseva slightly forehead, no one in the entire Soviet Union knew more than her that the information was true, and to ask the question at this time was merely opening her mouth to reinforce the seriousness of the matter.

“Absolutely true, the source of the information is indisputable, it is the biggest harvest of the KGB overseas.” Xie Leping said this rather complacent, he also only learned of the existence of the Cambridge Five after he took office, and that there was such a group of high-ranking people from enemy countries serving the Soviet Union.

He also had to be shocked by the layout of the KGB during World War II, and some of his ego couldn’t help but show through.

Foltseva is also a casual question, to Shelepin’s bragging is not thought, she has a more reliable source of information, and the other side sat on the rocket are.

But the man reminded himself that in the Central Presidency it is best to behave in a humane and harmless manner, cover yourself with a female identity, and said nothing about it.

“Britain and the United States is absolutely do it, think of the Gold Coast Independence Movement independent leader, lost over North Africa, until now have not found the body.” Suslov opened his mouth to look at Gromyko inquired, “What’s the name up of?”

“Kwame Nkrumah, leader of the Pan-Africanist movement. Hardline independence-seeking nationalist.” Gromyko, as Foreign Minister, hadn’t forgotten this character from a few years ago, and at the same time echoed Suslov’s words, “It’s happened once, there’s no guarantee that it won’t happen a second time, and we mustn’t overestimate the morality of imperialism, they simply don’t have it.”

Alan Wilson, who was far away in Lusaka, would never have imagined that the capital of the rival camps would have their own theater appearances.

He’d almost forgotten the pan-Africanist who had no idea what he was doing and had to take the Gold Coast away from Britain.

But just because he had gone out of his way to take out the independence-crazy Kwame Nkrumah for the sake of Britain in the first place, he was mentioned again today, although none of the Soviet bigwigs in the room knew that it was him, except for the Culture Tsar.

“Neo-colonialism through such horrors as assassination. Only shameless imperialists would do it.” Foltseva was righteously indignant; she had a deep appreciation of imperialist impudence and had suffered for it.

A furious denunciation of imperialist meanness and shamelessness almost immediately took over as the central argument of the discussion.

The first thing that could be proved was that the death threat to Lumumba was definitely not an empty one, and that, as confirmed by the intelligence of the KGB lurking inside the enemy, and corroborated by the previous experience, Lumumba’s situation was already quite dangerous.

It had become a consensus among all present that the death of a Third World leader didn’t really matter, but that this leader was someone the First Secretary valued, that the Soviet Union’s strategy for Africa was set by Khrushchev himself, and that the independence of the Congo had the consequence of the Soviet Union’s constant influence.

And now it seems that the independence of the Congo is just the beginning, the struggle around the Congo, has reached the point of letting the imperialist dagger in the face, personally set the African strategy of Khrushchev, the face of the face of some can not hang on, once Lumumba was killed, he set the African strategy of the first secretary still want to lose face?

The African strategy is not a problem, the authority of the supreme leader to where? Khrushchev wrinkled his brow and asked, “What is the situation of Lumumba?”

“Went to the UN to appeal to the UN to intervene against the separatist forces.” Gromyko replied at once, “Could the imperialists do it on the way?”

“If they do, something has happened with Kwame Nkrumah, and twice that inevitably arouses suspicion. He may be safe for the time being, the situation in the Congo is so complicated that a backward country would have no problem trying to buy off some ambitious people.”

Foltseva repeated to the others what Alan Wilson had said to her, “Once that’s done it clears the suspicion, and if Lumumba is okay on this foreign visit then the odds are that it’s the second one, and that the imperialists are going to use it as a pretext to kill him.”

Gromyko spoke up immediately, “If Lumumba arrives at the UN, have Dobrynin find a way to meet with him.”

“Comrade Gromyko has a solution?” Brezhnev inquired at this point.

“Just an idea to state our position after Dobrynin and Lumumba meet regarding the meeting.” Gromyko said as he thought, “Then we propose that the United Nations send a peacekeeping force, but this proposal the Americans propose is completely different from our Soviet proposal, once the United States is skeptical about this, Britain and France will also side with the United States, we must be prepared for this, the probability is that it will be rejected.”

“That would be a disappointment for Lumumba!” Shelepin said with a twinkle in his eye, “We can use this to show that the Soviet Union stands with Lumumba.”

“There’s much more to it than that. The next step will require the power of the KGB. African countries are generally backward, and even the Katanga provincial warlords who are fighting the Congolese government forces are only 20,000 to 30,000 strong.”

Brezhnev followed up on this thought and continued, “If we want to make Lumumba safe, we don’t really need too much power, just an armed force of a few hundred men, going over in the name of aid to the Congo, is enough to guarantee Lumumba’s personal safety, and as long as he isn’t assassinated, and the huge supportive public opinion behind him is there, we have a certain certain amount of certainty that we will be able to make this mine of Africa an ally of the Soviet Union.”

“That makes the KGB’s job very important when you look at it.” Foltseva exclaimed directly at Serepin on hearing this, “Shurik, will there be any difficulties.”

“No!” Shelepin answered categorically, then asked Khrushchev, “First Secretary, should we act?”

“There’s no need to hesitate about it at all.” Kozlov’s face was firm, “Since we have gained insight into the enemy’s plots, we must do our best to crush them and safeguard the national interests of the Soviet Union.”

Khrushchev’s African strategy was dominated by French-controlled Algeria, and the British sphere of influence, Egypt.

But against all expectations, there had been little progress, and it would have been a bit of a stretch to even have the Congo stolen from home again.

In fact, Khrushchev’s African strategy was so unproductive that Brezhnev, who came to power later, labeled it as a load of garbage.

Brezhnev then started focusing on military support with a big push for a global offense.

Because the African strategy he himself had developed was in danger of total bankruptcy, Khrushchev made up his mind to “crush the imperialist conspiracy and show them that the Soviet Union is not to be trifled with.”

At the time Lumumba arrived at UN headquarters, the Congo was in the midst of a fierce internal war, the Kremlin was determined to support it, and Allen Wilson was laughing and joking with the representative of Portuguese Angola.

Lumumba’s speech to the UN General Assembly expressing his desire for the UN to preserve the integrity of Congolese sovereignty was immediately followed by expressions of support from Dobrynin and the Soviet Union’s allies in unison, with the USSR, which had previously been pulling the strings between the U.S., Britain, and France, showing a very different attitude this time.

Dobrynin received instructions from home and met with Lumumba before he entered the UN headquarters, indicating that the USSR was willing to support Lumumba’s idea of completely removing the remnants of the West from politics, the military, the business community, and the civil society, and nationalizing all economic rights and returning all power to the Congolese.