15 april 1986
Ik lunchte met Romanov in het Intourist Hotel, nog steeds razend dat een
USSR-delegatie met vijf man naar New York zou reizen. Het scheelde weinig of
we hadden werkelijk een twistgesprek gekregen. "I am free to tell you, Willem,
you are wrong. I am no longer in government service. What do you want
Lomeiko en Molchanov to do? They have no say in this. They are simply told
by the Party to go. After I had served four years in London, I was told to go to
Nigeria. I protested, that I was entitled to a leave of a few years at home, but
the Party had already decided." Hij wees er bovendien op dat men zich in
Moskou niet kon bemoeien "with inner turmoil" bij de leiding van Den
Alerdinck. "I learned never to be a friend of a communist again," zei ik,
"because when the chips are down, a communist choses the Party not his
friend." Dat was het cruciale moment waarop onze lunch uit de hand leek te
lopen.