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.
