American diplomats wanted to send the body of the founder of the USSR, Vladimir Lenin, on a tour of the states. This is evidenced by an archive document published site of the US State Department , which contains excerpts from the preparation of the American side for negotiations with the USSR Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrey Gromyko in 1985.
This document was intended for internal use. “We have a new proposal: why don’t you send Lenin’s body to the USA on tour. Just like an exhibition of Tutankhamun,” one of his paragraphs ironically says.
The diplomats also mentioned the former president of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev . “If the Soviets dismantle all SS-20 (RSD-10 Pioneer medium-range missile system – approx. ” Lenta.ru “), we are ready to erase Gorbachev’s birthmark in American photographs,” the diplomats laughed.
In addition, the document contains many more caustic remarks from the American side on various topics that should have been discussed in bilateral negotiations: arms control, the Soviet economy and bilateral economic problems, regional issues, and so on.