 The White House. Washington. Transcript of Telephone Conversation. Subject. Telephone conference to discuss transportation of Novia Zemlia object. Participants. The President. James Baker. Secretary of State. Dick Cheney. Secretary of Defense. John Sununu. White House Chief of Staff. General Colin Powell. Chair. J.C.S. Colonel Gregory Sachs. G.O.C. Edward Shavardinatza. Minister of Foreign Affairs. U.S.S.R. Via telephone. Boris Pugo. Minister of Interior Affairs. U.S.S.R. Via telephone. Translator. G. Valentino. State. Notetaker. S. Morrison. N.S.C. Date. Time. August 9th, 1991. 08.36 to 08.44 a.m. EST. Place. White House Situation Room. The Kremlin. The President. Initiated the telephone call. The President. Edward? Are you on the line? Shavardinatza. Yes, I am here. Boris Karlovich stepped out for tea. Uh, no. He is here. We are both here, Mr. President. The President. Well, I'm glad. We're glad that we could set this up, my friends. Let me tell you that Colonel Sachs is here in the room with me. Pugo. In this thing to Russia. Sachs. He also replied in Russia. Valentino. I sighed to the President. Ah, pleasantries, Mr. President. Minister Pugo inquires about the health of Colonel Sachs' wife, and so on. The President. At any rate, Colonel Sachs informed me that the GOC's evaluation of the situation up in Novia's and Lia is that Team Zero is no longer capable of... Sununu. A sigh to Baker. Team Zero? What is this? I didn't get briefed. Baker. A sigh to Sununu. Jesus Christ, John. You were just there last week. The President. Continuing. Hold it. Conference call muted. A sigh to Sununu. John, when you and I were in Russia last week for the start one summit, we took the flight up north. Sununu. Um, I'm confused, sir. After Moscow, we went straight to Kiev. The President. Conference call unmuted. Edward, now, come on. You didn't have to go and give my chief of staff the yellow pill. Shivard Nazi. We did not. Sununu. What's up, unintelligible? Sachs. Mr. President, that was us. In fairness, sir, Mr. Sununu requested the amnestic after the unintelligible. Sununu. Unintelligible. What you're talking about if unintelligible. The President. We'll sort that out on our end. At any rate, Edward, Colonel Sachs tells me that they can't hold her down anymore, so we need to coordinate the handoff, so to speak. Shivard Nazi. Yes, that is consistent with the report that we have been given. Thank you. The President. Well, don't thank me. All we're doing is giving her a ride. Let the folks down there in their igloo or whatever it is, let them figure out what to do with her. That's the prudent thing to do at this juncture. Colin, my understanding is that the boat is ready? Would you confirm that? No. Yes, sir. The USS New Haven will arrive at the Matochian Strait Facility by Sukhoi Nos on August 19th local time, at which point? The President. New Haven, huh? Dick, I know that Yale kicked you out, but you didn't have to waste a perfectly good attack submarine to get even. Cheney. I, well, sir, it was... Powell. Mr. President, the Secretary Cheney wasn't involved in that decision, and it was the closest boat on station. The President. I'm just pulling your leg, Dick. It's a bonesome thing. Cheney. Yes, sir. Shivard Nazi. George, we are ready on our end. Vladimir Vladimirovich and his team will handle loading the subject onto your vessel. Baker. Excuse me, Minister. This is the Lieutenant Colonel from the KGB whom you introduced me to? Sex. It's him, Mr. Secretary. He's also one of ours. Very effective. Very reliable. The President. And Edward, the cover operation on your end? Shivard Nazi. I'm not involved. Hold on. Unintelligible. In the Russian. Boris says it's under control. The President. It's under control? I can't greenlight this operation on my end based on that. Not gonna do it, Edward. Now, you've seen that our people are getting better and better at managing a cover. A desert storm should be enough to demonstrate that. But it's critical, critical that we keep the world from paying attention to her. From knowing about the handoff or the transport. Shivard Nazi. Absolutely. Unintelligible in Russian. Please stand by. Unintelligible in Russian. Da. Unintelligible. In Russian. Boris says there is a plan that is involving KGB Chairman Khrushchev, Premier Pavlov, Minister Yasov, and a few others. Pugo. Unintelligible in Russian. Shivard Nazi. Unintelligible in Russian. Valentino. Aside to the President. Sir, Minister Shivard Nazi said, you what? You know, with a tone of disbelief. And they're both talking at once, sir. I can't sort it out while they're arguing. Mr. Pugo is saying that they're going to move now that Gorbachev is at his ducker, sir. They're talking about an overthrow, Shivard Nazi. It is not a real coup, Mr. President. It is destruction, the President. Greg, has your team vetted this plan? Sex. Lieutenant Colonel Putin and I have been through it with Minister Pugo and the others. Given the time constraints at play here, we're satisfied with unintelligible. Cheney. Unintelligible. The chain of command here. These cowboys shouldn't unintelligible. Baker. Unintelligible. Like the other time, Dick. They need to be able to unintelligible. Powell. Unintelligible. When are we going to get our submarine back? If we unintelligible. Sex. Unintelligible. General. We're not taking your submarine away from you. That being said, you understand that I can't speak as to the receiving team. At any rate, based on the file, it is not clear whether the boat is going to be in condition to be returned to service. The President. You're okay with this, Greg? Sex. Yes, sir. Cheney. It is vitally important for us to understand the situation here and how it is expected to unfold. It may be good cover, but in the medium term, there are known unknowns, and there are unknown unknowns. It could be bad for business and that. The President. Dick, Greg and I go way back to when I was at Langley, and I'm telling you that I am prepared to proceed based on the G.O.C.'s assurances. Schwarznazze. Mr. President, let me assure you that Mikhail Sergeevich and I will have things, things will be back to normal in a week or two. The President. In that case, then, I think we're all settled. Do you agree, Edward? Schwarznazze. The. Yes, Mr. President. Colonel Sacks is clear at your side. Sacks. We're ready, and let me add an personal note. Mr. President, Mr. Schwarznazze and Mr. Prugo, that I'm truly sorry on a personal level, that my organization can't continue to hold the line. It's just, I'm sorry. We've tried everything. Really everything since Khrushchev turned it over to us, and I just, Mr. Minister, let me assure you that those Soviet men and women up there over the years did not make those sacrifices in vain. Prugo. Grigory in Russian. Valentino. I signed to the President. He says, Gregory, you did your best. The President. Greg, we all recognize that it was either this or call it on cold harbor, and none of us wants to go there. And Edward, please tell Mikhail on behalf of us that we will never forget what your people have been doing up there on behalf of the world. I'm sure it must have been a great relief to all of you, you know, to let the white coats have to deal with it for a change. Schwarznazze. Yes, thank you, Mr. President. Please, please give my best to your family. The President. And Barbara Sains your best in Annually, Edward. I'm glad we could have this conversation to set this in motion. Gentlemen, anything else before we let them go? Very well. Thank you. End of conversation. Epilogue one, Groton, Connecticut. 22nd of August, 1991, 1836 UTC. For immediate release, cum sublant reports loss of USS New Haven, SSN 746, a Los Angeles-class attack submarine. Last reported location was approximately 230 nautical miles south-south west of Iceland. The Pentagon indicated that the New Haven had been detached from submarine squadron to assist NOAA with seafloor mapping in the Arctic and north of landing oceans. No signalling boy has yet been located. A certain rescue team has been dispatched to the area. Epilogue two, Chicago Sun-Times, August 22nd, 1991. Flauter in Ku, commit suicide. Moscow's Soviet Interior Minister Boris Pugo, a leader of the Ku against President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, killed himself with a shot in the mouth today to avoid arrest, a Soviet KGB spokesman said. Pugo's wife also shot herself and was in serious condition. The spokesman for the Soviet Intelligence Agency said Pugo, who won a reputation as a ruthless hardliner during his years as KGB Chief in Latvia, had been aware a team was on its way to arrest him at his apartment after the collapse of the Ku. Epilogue three, August 23rd, 1991. Site 236, Queen Maud Land, 71 degrees 40 minutes south, 2 degrees 50 minutes west. Captain Richards, welcome to Antarctica. I'm Dr. Garcia. We are delighted to have you. We don't get as many visitors down here in Antarctica as some of us would like, yes, especially this time of year. Goals with the territory when you take the King's shilling or the Foundation shilling, one might say. Thank you for the delivery. We'll take it from here. Why am I wearing the gas mask, you ask? Two reasons. The first is that it's part of our quarantine protocol for acquisitions of this type and as for the second, if you would care to turn this way and step under the gas hood. No need to struggle, sir. It's just an inhalant amnestic. See, the rest of your crew are just unconscious. They're fine. And he's down. Good. Emilio, remember the order that control sent down? Yeah, get these men suited up in the New Haven's evac kit, then bring them and the boats as CIE equipment back up to Iceland within the next 24 hours. No, we're not recruiting them. We're going to drop them off and let the Navy pick them up. Yeah, it's a perfectly good sub. Of course we'll keep it. As for the thing in the boats hold, let's see. You're quite the ugly thing, aren't you? SCP-84787. End of file. To learn more about the SCP Foundation, subscribe to SCP Orientation today and turn the notification bell on so you don't miss any of our videos.