After the Battle of Treasure Island, the Soviets reacted much more strongly than we did, probably because they had more losses than we did, and they were annihilated 58 men, 94 wounded, and captured a T-62 tank.
At that time, the Soviet side was mainly divided into military hardliners and some officials composed of détente factions, the representatives of the hardliners were Soviet Defense Minister Grechko, assistant minister Trikov and others, and the representative of the détente faction was Kosygin, chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union.
Hardliners advocate the deployment of nuclear-tipped medium-range ballistic missiles in the Far East, ready to strike "surgically" against important military and political targets.
The Soviet ambassador to the United States then made an urgent appointment with Kissinger in Washington, where he briefed kissing him of Soviet ideas and tactics, and he wished to consult the United States. To put it bluntly, they just want the US side to remain neutral in the next conflict. Kissinger reported the matter to Nixon the next day, and Nixon immediately called a meeting of senior officials to discuss the matter.
Nixon's idea was that the Soviet Union was America's greatest enemy and that China's presence could act as a counterweight to the Soviet Union. If there is a nuclear war between the two sides, the safety of the 250,000 U.S. troops in Asia will not be guaranteed, and what is even more frightening is that once Pandora's box is opened, the world will not be predicted.
Their final conclusion was to help China, and as long as the United States opposed it, the Soviet Union would not dare to move. However, at that time, there was already a deep grudge between China and the United States, and positive information not only had no channel, but would cause suspicion, and Brezhnev and the Soviets would also blame the United States. So they finally published an article in the Washington Star, which revealed the Soviet Union's "surgical nuclear strike" program, and they named changchun, Anshan, Jiuquan, Xichang and other important places.
The Soviets went crazy and the people of the world were stunned, and China quickly launched an active response, including digging deep holes and stockpiling grain, including the transfer of important factories to important mountainous areas, and the country entered a war situation.
After Ho Chi Minh's death, kosygin, the representative of the "détatiator faction", came to China by way, and Sino-Soviet relations eased up, but after returning home, the hardliners refuted Kosygin's détente and demanded continued high pressure on China.
Subsequently, the Soviet "reporter" published an article saying that the Soviet Union would attack the Lop Nur area, which was a signal from the Soviets and a warning to us, and Nixon called a meeting again, and they sought to resume the Warsaw talks at the level of Chinese and American ambassadors, conveying the meaning of reconciliation to China. Then they showed their trump card, which had been in their hands during the Cuban Missile Crisis, but never—they had deciphered the Soviet code and could attack Soviet strategic fortresses, cities, military bases, and industry if necessary.
The Soviet ambassador to the United States told Kosygin that the attitude of the Americans was that if China was attacked by the Soviet Union, they would regard this move as the beginning of World War III, they would enter the war, and they would give orders to attack 134 Soviet cities, military bases, industries and other strategic targets. Brezhnev shouted angrily and helplessly: The Americans have betrayed us!
The Soviets finally abandoned their ideas, and the nuclear crisis dissipated.