The well-known photograph capturing the famed embrace was taken by Régis Bossu in East Berlin on October 7, 1979.[1] It was widely republished.[2] Brezhnev was visiting East Germany at the time to celebrate the anniversary of its founding as a Communist nation.[3] On October 5, East Germany and the Soviet Union had signed a ten-year agreement of mutual support under which East Germany would provide ships, machinery and chemical equipment to the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union would provide fuel and nuclear equipment to East Germany.[4]