In August 1983, Andropov made an announcement that the country was stopping all work on space-based weapons. One of his most notable acts was in response to a letter from a 10-year-old American child from Maine named Samantha Smith, inviting her to the Soviet Union. She came but Andropov's severe illness was made public when he was too ill to see her. Meanwhile, Soviet–U.S. arms control talks on intermediate-range nuclear weapons in Europe were suspended by the Soviet Union in November 1983 and by the end of the year, the Soviets had broken off all arms control negotiations.