ABSTRACT
The declaration on European security issued following the Warsaw Pact meeting in Bucharest in July 1966 had established a link between the German question and opposition to United States policy on a broader plane. By 1966 a number of East European states had already shown concrete interest in improving relations with West Germany, and particularly commercial relations. For its part, the Soviet Union had consistently urged West Germany to take advantage of the opportunities for improving and expanding their mutual relations. During the course of the negotiations among West German political parties in November 1966, the Soviet Union clearly favored moves to bring the Social Democratic Party into the government coalition and assessed relatively favorably the qualities of the prospective new Chancellor Kiesinger. On 28 January 1967 the Soviet government delivered an official note to the embassies of the United States, Britain, France and West Germany in Moscow.
