During the latter half of the twentieth century, meetings of heads of state and government became not only commonplace but institutionalised and part of the regular pattern of international diplomacy. One such bilateral summit was that between Harold Wilson and Leonid Brezhnev in Moscow in February 1975, which constituted the first meeting between the British and Soviet leaders since 1968. Little has been written about this event but it warrants study as a window on the world of détente and the process that led later that year to the signing of the Helsinki Final Act. Moreover, it shows how the Whitehall machine, and in particular the Foreign Office, understood the value and purposes of this new mode of international dialogue and sought to ensure that the summit would lead to a successful result. This involved the endorsement of closer cultural and economic ties but also the troublesome issue of constructing a mutually agreeable joint statement.