 Complete the following phrase:  Publicly, the Soviet Union responded by augmenting their naval forces in the Pacific and by sending a letter to the US president Lyndon B. Johnson on 3 February 1968 demanding that the United States scale back their build-up in the Sea of Japan. Privately however, Alexei Kosygin gave assurances to the US ambassador in Moscow Llewellyn Thompson on 6 February 1968 that the Soviet Union had no intention to go to war over Kim Il Sungs provocation. As a response to this overture, Lyndon Johnson agreed to withdraw one unnamed vessel somewhat southward. This exchange enabled Brezhnev to make a subsequent face-saving statement to the 