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E.O. 	12356, Sec. 3.4 
.CZECH 'rASK FORCE 

. NIJ 2o~/6 3... Bv.6:qj. NARA. Date //J-cJ.-7P !ttu~.t!t?D. J!ep_oIJ .l~PO Hours EDT, Sept_cmber, 6, 19_6.q 
. 1.. §.p.v,.i_e_,.t_peptJ..tY. Foreign M.f.nJ.s t,er Rcpp,x:,ted, .1.n ?F!iAf.!.~: AFP re ports that 
.Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister yasiliy Kuznetsov arrived this afternoon • in Prsgu~.. At the time. .of the report he was said· to be. conferrf.ng with President Svoboda, AFP .had reported earlier today that Moscow would send an emiestlry to Prague "with full powet·s to negotiate with the' Ci.echoslovak .leeders." It i; not cl.ear what Kuzne.tsov's functions eouldi in fact, be, His position suggestg that he may become Sovi~t proconsul a though 
prcsuma.bly .the militarr aspects of the occupatJ on are under the control of Generttl Pavlovsky, the conunander of the occupation forces. 
The !i£F., York Times rcp~rto~ this morning that: Sovi.et Ambassador Cher• venenko had returned to Mo·scow. It is possible that d!ssgreern~nts had ~.risen between him and the Czechos,lovak leadet·s concerning the implemcnta· 
.ti.on of the Moscow egreeme.nts. Moscow may have decided the t 1 in view of his _;jlong and · at times acrimonious re1ati.ons with the Czechoslovaks over the past year, Chervenenko had lost nlOSt of hts usefulness, The Soviet press :.J" in the past two days has indicated concern s.t the slow pace of Hnormaliza• 1! tion" !n Czechoslovakia, and Ku2';netsov' s major role may be to 1.mpress once again upon Prague the necessity for firm contr¢l over political and social life within the country. (FBIS 46; 56) 
2. HaJe)s. Re.p<?._rt~,.4 J.n-~re_!i_sla,v_a: Press reports state that Czechoslovak Foreign Min1.ster ~rrived today in Vienna and then immediately went on to BratiGlava, where he will remain untf.l tomorrow, when he will go t.o Prague. According to en AP story fron\ Geneva, Soviet diplom3ts in Swi.tz.erland pri· vately assured Hajek that' there would be no reprisals agalns~ ·him. (UPI-100; FBIS 6S; AP•l9) . 
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3. Roroan.ial\ Situation: Emba~sy Bucharest reports that the Romanians con­tinue to be apprehensive sbout Soviet intentions. The Embassy notes that Ceausescl' ts speeche6 on Septembe1· 5 have emphasfzcd desit'e to overcome the present "difficult .situation" amo11g socialist countries and to strengthen coope1·at1on within the s,oc1al1.st camp, · It further notes that the Romanian press in recent days has provide.d only very brie.f coverage or Czechoslovak affairs end has conveyed the impression that "normal activ1ti' has resumed 
in that country •. 
Finally, the Embassy passes on a report from a "usually reliable source" who was told by a '"highly reliable source'" that the USSR had presente.-0 sn ultimatum to Bucharest on Se.plember 4. Moscow is saS.d to have demanded that the Ron~oian press ce~se m~king offensive statements concerning Czechoslovakia and that BuchArest agree . to the passage of Soviet troops ~nd tanks across 

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Si.tuat ion Re£or.t 1~00 ' Hou,r.s _E~ta.. ,September ?.• 1968 
Romania to lulgaria. Romania ts said to have agreed to ~'e first demand; 
it replied to the &e~ond by agreeing that troops could pass nonstop in 
"sealed trains," The Soviet:s reportedly rejected th1s. As a result1 
Ceausescu is reported to hAve decreed on September 4 s ,.State of Alert No. l" · 

· 	(involving~ high state of readiness). There is no confi~nation of this 
story and USDAO, Bucharest, reports that an inspection of all major military 
ios.tallations in Bucharest at midday on September 6 indicates that they ap· 
pellr to be· in the same st.~te of alert ~s previously reported, which conld 
be characterized as 8 low· .. level of alet"t. (Buche·rcst 2477; USDAO Buchs.rest 
061740Z Sept 68) 

4,. p~lsarisn~!..t)ew Call For International Communist Conference: The Bulgarian 
First Deputy Premier Zhivko· Zhivkov (not premier Todor Zhivkov) supported 
on September 4 the convening of an international meeting of communist and 
workers' parties (scheduled for Moscow in November) and stated that the 
Bulgari~n Communist Party is taking acti\fc part in its preparation, This 
~ppears the first authoritative public Bulgarian st~tement on the desirability 
of an international communist ijptties meeting sine~ the invasion of Czecho· 
slovakia and was presumably macfe at the behest of the Soviets to keep the 
idea of a meeting alive and elicit current att.itudes toward the conclave among 
other parties. (Sofia 1268, 9/5) 

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