both before and during "pocket money", nixon and kissinger had worried about the soviet and chinese reaction to the escalation. hours before nixon's speech announcing the mining, kissinger had delivered a letter to soviet ambassador anatoly dobrynin which outlined the u.s. plan, but which also made clear nixon's willingness to proceed with the summit. the next day, nixon shook the hand of soviet foreign trade minister nikolai patolichev at the white house. although both moscow and beijing publicly denounced the american operation, they were not willing to jeopardize their thawing relationship with the u.s. and hanoi's requests for support and aid from its socialist allies met with only cool responses. nixon and kissinger's diplomacy had triumphed and the u.s. was free to act as it pleased.