+ Visit of Mikhail Gorbachev to Canada, 1983

Mikhail Gorbachev first-visited Canada in 1983 as a relatively unknown favourite of then-Soviet General Secretary Yuri Andropov. He made a very favourable impression on Canadian interlocutors in Ottawa, southwestern Ontario, and Alberta. The document notes that former Soviet Ambassador to Canada Aleksandr Yakovlev had been promoted to a senior Politburo role in Moscow by 1989 and was a close Gorbachev advisor and ally.