Report by Soviet Ambassador to the GDR Pyotr Abrasimov on East Germany´s Position vis-à-vis Czechoslovakia, July 28 and August 1, 1968.

Our Source: Navratil, Jaromir. "The Prague Spring 1968".  Hungary: Central European Press, 1998, pp. 316
Original Source: AVPRF, F. 059, Op. 58, P. 124, D. 573, L. 79; Vondrová & Navrátil, vol. 2, pp. 33-34
Translated by: Mark Kramer, Joy Moss and Ruth Tosek
Comment: These are two East German statements concerning Czechoslovakia, the first made by Walter Ulbricht, July 28, and the second from the SED Politburo, August 1, 1968.

From a conversation with Ulbricht:
Cde. Ulbricht expressed the following desires:

(1) At the forthcoming meeting he is planning to discuss the draft of an appeal to the Czechoslovak population, an appeal that he assumes the Soviet side will introduce.

(2) He expects that at the meeting the political platform of the progressive forces of the ČSSR will be worked out and reviewed.

(3) He believes that, given the way circumstances have developed, coordination of the propaganda efforts of the five countries will be absolutely crucial.

(4) It is necessary to consider when it would be politically more auspicious to announce the beginning of manoeuvres by the armies of several Warsaw Pact member states.

From the SED Politburo meeting:
The SED CC Politburo regards the following steps to be essential:

(a) To deal a collective blow, using all available means, against the reactionary and counterrevolutionary forces in Czechoslovakia.

(b) To expose the mistakes of both the past and the current leadership of the CPCz CC and the Czechoslovak government.

(e) To devise, through joint efforts, a program aimed at correcting the mistakes committed in Czechoslovakia and at remedying the situation in the country, with an eye to lending Czechoslovakia all necessary assistance in carrying out reforms in the economic, scientific, cultural, and other spheres.

At the SED CC Politburo it was noted that Dubček and his cohorts are “sly revisionists, and have turned out not to be such simple people as they seemed initially.”