The Soviet Union and Churchill's appeals for high-level talks, 1953-54: New evidence from the Russian archives

New evidence from the Russian archives offers proof that Winston Churchill's calls for top-level talks, 1953-54, were greeted with mistrust and scepticism by Moscow. Soviet policy makers realized that Churchill was weak, entirely dependent on American policy and unable to act as mediator between East and West. They were also sceptical as to whether any real progress could be made during an Anglo-Soviet summit meeting and, instead, pressed for four-power talks at Foreign Minister level. Finally, the Soviet records shed light on the impact of the power struggle within the Kremlin on its responses to Churchill's initiative, with Vyacheslav Molotov preventing Georgi Malenkov from meeting the British Prime Minister.