Peoples Temple Meetings with the Soviet Embassy in Georgetown, Guyana, 1978

(A compilation of original source documents by Fielding M. McGehee III.)

Throughout 1978, members of Peoples Temple – especially those who worked fulltime at the Temple headquarters in Lamaha Gardens – met with officials of the Soviet Embassy on a regular, if unscheduled basis.

Two main items occupied most of the agendas on conversation. The first came from long discussions of the Temple’s proposal to uproot the Jonestown community from Guyana and transplant it en masse somewhere in the Soviet Union. While the plans were never solidified, they were still under discussion at the time of the deaths in Jonestown.

The second main topic, especially during the late summer and fall of 1978, was Jim Jones’ health and, more specifically, how Jones could get access to Cuban and Soviet doctors in Georgetown to treat him. The problems arose over the Temple’s request – even insistence – that the doctors come to Jonestown, whereas the Soviet Embassy’s position was that Jones should come to Georgetown for diagnosis and treatment in a larger medical facility than Jonestown could provide.

The two Temple members involved in almost all of these discussions were Sharon Amos and Debbie Touchette, and their notes form the bulk of the transcripts below. Other participants included Terry Carter Jones, Marceline Jones, Jim Jones, Jr., Terri Buford, Mike Prokes, and Tim Carter (sometimes identified as Tony Walker). The meetings principally were with Feodor Timofeyev, who served as Embassy consul, as well as Tass correspondent Aleksandro Voropaev and an embassy official whose last name was Kramarenko.

The PDFs and transcripts below of these meetings derive from three sections of the FBI’s release of documents under the Freedom of Information Act. The documents have been arranged in chronological order, not in the order as they appear in the sections themselves.

The citation for these documents should open with the FBI’s official designation of these records, which is “RYMUR 89-4286.” Each individual page in these records has a unique number. The first page of this section, for example, is marked “G-1-g-30a”. The complete citation for that page, then, would be “RYMUR 89-4286-G-1-g-30a”.

It should be noted that the transcript of these documents retain their original spellings, with corrections noted only where necessary for clarity.

In addition, likely in an effort to save paper, Temple members often used the reverse side of old documents. The old documents were not transcribed.

This research document is original to this site. Please credit this website for any use of this material.

RYMUR Citations	Date	Topics of discussion	PDF	Text
G-1-g-30a – 30b	Feb 25	Temple Members Introduce Themselves to Soviet Embassy	PDF	Text
G-1-g-29a – 29c, G-1-h-3a – G-1-h-5	Mar 15	Temple Raises Stoen Custody Issue	PDF	Text
G-1-g-18 – 19	Mar 18	Temple, Soviets Discuss Press Coverage, Guyana Non-Aligned Status	PDF	Text
G-1-g-16, G-1-h-16	Mar 23	Soviets Suggest Temple Contact Russian Orthodox Church	PDF	Text
G-1-g-28	Mar 25	Jones Arrest Warrant Not Enforced	PDF	Text
G-1-g-32a – 32j	Late March	Temple Declares Soviet Union Is Its Motherland	PDF	Text
G-1-g-2 – g-4	Mar 28	Summaries of news articles in Guyana papers	PDF	Text
G-1-g-20	Mar 28	Mike Prokes Inquires About Tass Article	PDF	Text
G-1-g-9a – 9b	Mar 28	Temple Discusses Background of Tass Reporter Visiting Jonestown	PDF	Text
G-1-h-2a – 2d	Mar 30	Georgetown Temple Members Dine with Embassy Officials, Tass Reporter	PDF	Text
GG1-E-1 – E-5	Mar 30	Temple Meetings with Soviet Embassy, US Consul, Guyana Officials	PDF	Text
G-1-g-21 – g-22	Apr 1	Temple Meets with Soviet and US Embassies, Guyana Ministers, Georgetown Lawyer	PDF	Text
G-1-g-13a – 13c, 14a – 14b, G-1-h-6	Apr 12	Soviets Express Diplomatic Hesitation on Some Temple Ideas	PDF	Text
G-1-g-13d – 13e, h-20 – 20c	Apr 12	Soviet Embassy Outlines Issues that Temple Migration Proposal Will Need	PDF	Text
G-1-g-14c – 14d, h-19	Apr 12	Timofeyev Offers Frank Assessment of Some Temple Members, Statements	PDF	Text
G-1-g-11a – 11b	Apr 18	Soviets Ask About Life in Jonestown	PDF	Text
G-1-g-h-7	Apr 21	Program for Guyana-Soviet Celebration of Lenin’s Birthday	PDF
G-1-b-4a – 5b	Late April	Georgetown Offers Advice to Jones in Speaking to Soviets	PDF	Text
D-2-P-13	April 21	Timofeyev discusses Burnham going to Soviet Union	PDF	Text
G-2-g-2a – g-2d, G-1-g-10, G-1-g-8c, GG-1-M1 – 1-M2	April 23	Letter to Soviet Embassy Requesting Move to USSR	PDF	Text
G-1-g-8a – 8c	Apr 23	Temple Discusses Published Tass Article with Soviets	PDF	Text
G-1-a-3 – a-4b	Apr 24	Albert Kahn Recommends Jones Travel to Warsaw Conference	PDF	Text
G-1-g-9a – 9b	Apr 24	Translation of Article by Tass Reporter Aleksandro Voropaev	PDF	Text
G-2-g-3	May	Temple Requests Soviet Embassy to Contact Moscow for Doctor	PDF	Text
G-1-g-26	May	Georgetown Relays Soviets Request for Information on Jones Illness	PDF	Text
G-2-g-4a – g-4b, G-1-h-15a – 15b	May	Timofeyev Offers Advice on Talking to Guyana Officials	PDF	Text
G-1-g-7a – 7b	May 5	Jones’ Lack of Soviet Citizenship May Create Obstacle to Medical Treatment	PDF	Text
G-1-g-23 – g-25	May 15	Temple Discusses Conspiracy and Stoen Case with Soviets	PDF	Text
G-1-g-5	June 13	Notes to Put in Status Query on Exodus, Jones’ Medical Treatment	PDF	Text
G-1-g-1a – 1b	June 13	Temple Seeks Status on Queries on Exodus, Jones’ Medical Treatment	PDF	Text
G-1-a-2-c – a-2-g	July 5	Temple Notes on Letter on Negative Press, Guyana Politics, Korea and Cuba Contacts	PDF	Text
G-1-a-2a – a-2b	July 5	Temple Letter to Charles Garry Spells Out Jones’ Views on Guyana, USSR, Press	PDF	Text
G-1-g-15a – 15b	July 19	Temple Leaders Update Timofeyev after Two-Month Absence	PDF	Text
G-1-e-3a – e-3b	July 28	Temple Asks about Medical Treatment in USSR for Jonestown Child	PDF	Text
G-1-e-2a – e-2b	Aug 10	Temple Asks If Jones Can Travel to Moscow for Medical Assistance	PDF	Text
G-1-g-6	mid-August	Georgetown Forwards Soviet Query on Option of Jones Returning to US	PDF	Text
G-1-a-8a – 8e	Aug 20	Soviets Consider Sending Russian Doctor to Jonestown	PDF	Text
G-1-g-27	Aug 20	Temple Claims Attacks by Mercenaries, Concerned Relatives	PDF	Text
G-1-e-4a – 4b	Aug 30	Temple Outlines Its Current Status with Guyana during Timofeyev Meeting	PDF	Text
G-1-e-7	Aug 30	Coded Message from Marceline Tells Jim about Her Meeting at Soviet Embassy	PDF	Text
D-2-Q-12A	Aug 30	Marceline conveys Jim Jones assessment of situation to Timofeyev	PDF	Text
D-2-Q-2A – Q-3	late summer	Timofeyev, other Soviet officials express doubts of assessment	PDF	Text
G-1-b-3a – 3f	early Sept	Jim Jones Makes Argument to Soviet Embassy for Emigration	PDF	Text
G-1-e-5a – 5b	Sept	Temple Leaders Contact Soviets with Analysis of Status with Guyana Government	PDF	Text
G-1-e-6a – 6b	Sept	Temple Discusses Difficulties on Getting Medical Help for Jones	PDF	Text
G-1-g-15c	Sept	Note Laments Guyana Drift towards China	PDF	Text
G-1-e-1a – 1c	Sept 5	Peoples Temple Letter to Soviet Union	PDF	Text
GG-1-F1 – F2	Sept 6	Temple Tells Soviets about “Break in Conspiracy”	PDF	Text
GG-1-G1 – I2	Sept 7	Timofeyev Disagrees with Suggestions of Temple Members Dying	PDF	Text
G-1-a-14a – 14b	Sept 20	Temple Reports Jones’ Illness, Soviets Report Doctor’s Arrival in Georgetown	PDF	Text
G-1-b-2a – 2b	mid-Sept	Temple Makes Formal Request for Delegation  to Visit USSR	PDF	Text
G-1-a-13a – 13d	Sept 22	Temple Presses Urgency for Soviet Doctor Visit to Jonestown	PDF	Text
G-1-a-9a –a-9f	Sept 25	Temple, Timofeyev Hold Frank Discussion on Issues Facing Jonestown	PDF	Text
G-1-b-8a – 8-b	Oct 4	Timofeyev Discusses Strategy to Get Small Temple Delegation into USSR	PDF	Text
G-1-b-7a – 7h	Oct 13	Timofeyev Discusses His Visit to Jonestown, Jones’ Visit to Moscow	PDF	Text
G-1-g-12a – 12b	mid-Oct	Temple Expresses Concerns of Embassy Bugging, Swears Allegiance to USSR	PDF	Text
G-1-g-17	mid-Oct	Temple Drafts Notes on Issues to Include in Letter to Soviets	PDF	Text
G-1-b-6	late Oct	Temple Summarizes Issues to Cover in Meeting with Soviets	PDF	Text
G-1-b-9	late Oct	Sharon Amos, Timofeyev Debate Allowing John Victor Stoen to Go to Moscow	PDF	Text
G-1-h-1a – 1f	late Oct	Temple Considers Affiliation with Russian Orthodox Church, Banking in Moscow	PDF	Text
G-1-f-1 – f-2	late Oct	Temple Leaders Propose Financial Transfers, Bank Accounts with USSR	PDF	Text
G-1-b-1a – 1f	Oct 20	Temple Presses on Soviet Travel, Jones’ Medicine, Harassment from US	PDF	Text
G-1-f-6g	late Oct	Temple Member Chastises Timofeyev on Sense of Humor	PDF	Text
G-1-f-6a – f-6f	Oct 24	Timofeyev Counsels Patience, Warns Against Over-Reaction	PDF	Text
G-1-f-3 – f-5b	Nov 3	Soviets Raise Concerns about Massive Migration, Visitors to Jonestown	PDF	Text