Chapter 127 Proof of a Reconnaissance Plane

"This is an imperialist conspiracy. They are spying on our important strategic locations under the guise of civilian airliners. If we fail to shoot them down this time, there will be a second and third time. This time, we must let the Americans know that this method is useless against the Soviets!" Before entering the meeting room, a loud voice was heard. It was Ustinov.

"Yes, last time we shot down the American Blackbird reconnaissance plane. The Americans have no other means of reconnaissance. This time they want to use civilian airliners to conduct reconnaissance on us. This method cannot fool us." Another voice came, it should be Andropov.

The two men sang the same tune, describing this action as quite righteous. Kirilenko suddenly felt dizzy when he heard what they said.

"No, this attack on a civilian airliner was a mistake we made!" Pushing open the door, Kirilenko shouted without even looking at the people sitting in the seats: "This will bring shame to the Soviet image we have worked so hard to create in diplomacy!"

As soon as Kirilenko finished speaking, he saw everyone's eyes were looking at him, and the person sitting at the top of the conference room was General Secretary Brezhnev!

The General Secretary is always the last one to come in. What happened today? Kirilenko immediately felt something was wrong. What he had just said was just to refute the remarks of these people, to form a united front and jointly attack Ustinov, instead of being fooled by Ustinov and Andropov.

But it seems like what I said now is inappropriate?

"Comrade Kirilenko, you are using such clumsy words to slander our leader. Tell me, do you have any hidden secrets?" At this moment, Andropov, who was always smiling and had never had a direct conflict with Kirilenko, spoke.

Slandering the leader! Kirilenko suddenly realized, damn, I fell into the opponent's trap!

The order to open fire on American planes was a decision made not only by the Ministry of Defense but also by Ustinov. It must have been reported to the General Secretary in advance and his consent was obtained!

It doesn't matter what the parties concealed or what they exaggerated the seriousness of the situation. In short, the General Secretary agreed to open fire! And now, he actually said that it was wrong to open fire. He was simply courting death!

Glancing at the General Secretary who was sitting there, his expression had indeed turned ugly. Kirilenko knew that he had said something wrong and the consequences would be serious.

Damn it, this is a conspiracy! Andropov and Ustinov teamed up to pit me! The Air Defense Force made such a big noise last night, the whole world knows about it, I am afraid I am the last person to know!

Thinking of this, Kirilenko's heart suddenly sank again. Oh no, he should have been informed, but he knew nothing. There was only one result: his confidential secretary and even his driver had already pledged allegiance to Andropov! Only the KGB could have such great power!

I have suggested to the General Secretary a long time ago that the KGB now has too much power and is in charge of too many things, and there is a chance that the KGB's leaders may want to follow Beria's old path, but the General Secretary just wouldn't listen!

However, now is definitely not the time to bring up this. I have just made the General Secretary unhappy, and I need to calm down first before I can talk about this.

The overall plan he had just thought of, taking this opportunity to drive Ustinov away, has now gone down the drain. Kirilenko sat down depressed, planning to just be a listener at this meeting. At the same time, he was thinking that there must be KGB people around him, and he had to check them one by one!

"However, the accusations made by the West against us will indeed tarnish the image of the Soviet Union in the world." Brezhnev finally spoke, and this sentence made Kirilenko grateful and tearful. Sure enough, the General Secretary was still on his side! The General Secretary still valued his speech very much!

"General Secretary, the West is now accusing us of shooting down their ordinary passenger plane and that it was our mistake. As long as we can prove that this passenger plane is not an ordinary passenger plane but an American reconnaissance plane, let's see what the Americans have to say!" Andropov said on the side.

Brezhnev nodded and said, "Yes, if it can be proved that it was an American reconnaissance plane, then the Americans will be isolated by the Western world. They deserve it. But, what should we do to make the Western world believe us?"

The best way, of course, was to capture a few crew members of the passenger plane. As long as they arrived in the Soviet Union, they would definitely confess their crimes. Unfortunately, the passenger plane exploded and disintegrated in mid-air. When their own salvage personnel arrived, only some fragments were left. They couldn't even salvage a complete body, let alone a living person.

Human witnesses are the most important, but unfortunately there is no way to get them now. However, we still have a way!

In addition to witnesses, there is also physical evidence. Thinking back to a phone call he received before coming to the meeting, Andropov sighed in his heart, alas, he is old, and the future belongs to the young!

The call was from the young man in the Far East. Andre did not say much directly. He just said that the EP-3 that made an emergency landing last time was equipped with advanced American reconnaissance equipment, such as infrared cameras and so on, and the American reconnaissance plane that invaded our airspace this time under the guise of civil aviation must have the same equipment!

Because of Catherine's relationship, Andrei was one of the few people who could call Andropov directly. When Andrei learned that a civilian airliner had been shot down, he called Andropov immediately.

In later history, it was a division commander on the front line who was responsible for shooting down the Korean Airlines passenger plane! Because Andropov, who had become the General Secretary of the Soviet Union, was in a coma at the time, there was no one to deal with these matters. As a result, the Soviet Union did not issue a statement, and the West finally blackened it. At that time, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, and the Soviet Union's reputation was ruined.

Look at the United States. It shot down an Iranian passenger plane and had a lot of reasons. In the first few years, there was not even any compensation.

Now, the Soviet Union must prove that this passenger plane is a reconnaissance plane! How to prove it? That is easy or not.

Andrei didn't say it explicitly, but Andropov certainly understood it. Now, he brought it up at the Supreme Council: "We can hold an exhibition in Moscow to show the salvaged aircraft fragments and the spy equipment to reporters from all over the world, so that they know that we didn't shoot by mistake!"