Before resorting to killing Amin by brute force, the Soviets had tried to poison him as early as 13 December (but nearly killed his nephew instead) and to kill him with a sniper shot on his way to work (this proved impossible as the Afghans had improved their security measures). They even tried to poison Amin just hours before the assault on the Presidential Palace on 27 December. Amin had organised a lunch for party members to show guests his palace and to celebrate Ghulam Dastagir Panjsheri's return from Moscow. Panjsheri's return improved the mood even further; he boasted that the Soviet divisions had already crossed the border, and that he and Gromyko always kept in contact with each other. During the meal, Amin and several of his guests lost consciousness as they had been poisoned. Luckily for Amin, but unfortunately for the Soviets, he survived his encounter with death, because the carbonation of the Coca-Cola he was drinking diluted the toxic agent. Mikhail Talybov, a KGB agent, was given responsibility for the poisonings.