In October 1964, the leadership changed in the USSR. The unity of the socialist camp was broken, relations between East and West were very strained due to the Caribbean crisis. In addition, the German problem remained unresolved, which greatly worried the leadership of the USSR. Under these conditions, the modern history of the Soviet state began. The decisions taken at the 23rd Congress of the CPSU in 1966 confirmed the orientation towards a tougher foreign policy. Peaceful coexistence from that moment was subject to a qualitatively different trend to strengthen the socialist regime, to strengthen solidarity between the national liberation movement and the proletariat.
Complexity of the situation
Restoring absolute control in the socialist camp was complicated by tense relations with China and Cuba. Problems were delivered by events in Czechoslovakia. In June 1967, a congress of writers openly spoke out against the leadership of the party. This was followed by massive student strikes anddemonstrations. As a result of the growing opposition, Novotny had to cede the leadership of the party to Dubcek in 1968. The new board decided to carry out a number of reforms. In particular, freedom of speech was established, the HRC agreed to hold alternative elections for leaders. However, the situation was resolved by the introduction of troops from 5 Warsaw Pact member states. It was not possible to suppress the unrest immediately. This forced the leadership of the USSR to remove Dubcek and his entourage, placing Husak at the head of the party. On the example of Czechoslovakia, the so-called Brezhnev Doctrine, the principle of "limited sovereignty", was implemented. The suppression of reforms h alted the modernization of the country for at least 20 years. In 1970, the situation in Poland also became more complicated. The problems were related to the rise in prices, which caused mass uprisings of workers in the B altic ports. Over the following years, the situation did not improve, the strikes continued. The leader of the unrest was the trade union "Solidarity", which was led by L. Walesa. The leadership of the USSR did not dare to send troops, and the "normalization" of the situation was entrusted to the gene. Jaruzelsky. On December 13, 1981, he declared martial law in Poland.
Detente
In the early 70s. relations between East and West have changed dramatically. The tension began to ease. This was largely due to the achievement of military parity between the USSR and the USA, East and West. At the first stage, interested cooperation was established between the Soviet Union and France, and then with the FRG. At the turn of the 60-70s. The Soviet leadership began to actively implement a new foreign policy course. Its key provisions were fixed in the Peace Program, which was adopted at the 24th Party Congress. The most important points here are the fact that neither the West nor the USSR renounced the arms race within the framework of this policy. The whole process at the same time acquired a civilized framework. The recent history of relations between the West and the East began with a significant expansion of areas of cooperation, mainly Soviet-American. In addition, relations between the USSR and the FRG and France improved. The latter withdrew from NATO in 1966, which served as a good reason for the active development of cooperation.
The German problem
To resolve it, the USSR expected to receive mediation assistance from France. However, it was not required, since the Social Democrat W. Brandt became Chancellor. The essence of his policy was that the unification of the territory of Germany was no longer a prerequisite for establishing relations between East and West. It was postponed to the future as a key goal of multilateral negotiations. Thanks to this, the Moscow Treaty was concluded on August 12, 1970. In accordance with it, the parties pledged to respect the integrity of all European countries within their actual borders. Germany, in particular, recognized the western borders of Poland. And a line with the GDR. An important step was also the signing in the autumn of 1971 of a quadripartite treaty on the West. Berlin. This agreement confirmed the groundlessness of political and territorial claims on it by the FRG. It became absolutethe victory of the USSR, since all the conditions on which the Soviet Union had insisted since 1945 were met.
Assessing America's position
Quite a favorable development of events allowed the leadership of the USSR to become stronger in the opinion that in the international arena there was a cardinal shift in the balance of power in favor of the Soviet Union. And the states of the socialist camp. The position of America and the imperialist bloc was assessed by Moscow as "weakened". This confidence was based on several factors. The key factors were the continued strengthening of the national liberation movement, as well as the achievement of military-strategic parity with America in 1969 in terms of the number of nuclear charges. In accordance with this, the buildup of types of weapons and their improvement, according to the logic of the leaders of the USSR, acted as an integral part of the struggle for peace.
OSV-1 and OSV-2
The need to achieve parity has made the issue of bilateral arms limitation, especially of intercontinental ballistic missiles, urgent. Of great importance in this process was Nixon's visit to Moscow in the spring of 1972. On May 26, the Interim Agreement was signed, defining restrictive measures in relation to strategic weapons. This treaty was called OSV-1. He was imprisoned for 5 years. The agreement limited the number of US and USSR ballistic intercontinental missiles launched from submarines. The allowable levels for the Soviet Union were higher, since America possessed weapons carrying warheads withseparable elements. At the same time, the number of charges themselves was not specified in the agreement. This allowed, without violating the contract, to achieve a unilateral advantage in this area. SALT-1, therefore, did not stop the arms race. The formation of a system of agreements was continued in 1974. L. Brezhnev and J. Ford managed to agree on new conditions for the limitation of strategic arms. The signing of the SALT-2 agreement was supposed to be carried out in the 77th year. However, this did not happen, in connection with the creation in the United States of "cruise missiles" - new weapons. America categorically refused to take into account the limit levels in relation to them. In 1979, the treaty was nevertheless signed by Brezhnev and Carter, but the US Congress did not ratify it until 1989
Results of detente policy
During the years of the implementation of the Peace Program, serious progress has been made in cooperation between East and West. The total volume of trade increased by 5 times, and the Soviet-American - by 8. The interaction strategy was reduced to signing large contracts with Western companies for the purchase of technologies or the construction of factories. So at the turn of the 60-70s. VAZ was created under an agreement with the Italian corporation Fiat. But this event is more likely to be attributed to the exception than to the rule. International programs for the most part were limited to inappropriate business trips of delegations. The import of foreign technologies was carried out according to an ill-conceived scheme. Really fruitful cooperation was negatively affectedadministrative and bureaucratic obstacles. As a result, many contracts fell short of expectations.
1975 Helsinki Process
Detente in relations between East and West, however, has borne fruit. It made it possible to convene the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. The first consultations took place in 1972-1973. The host country of the CSCE was Finland. Helsinki (the capital of the state) became the center of discussion of the international situation. The first consultations were attended by the ministers of foreign affairs. The first stage took place from 3 to 7 July 1973. Geneva became the platform for the next round of negotiations. The second stage took place from 1973-18-09 to 1975-21-07. It involved several rounds lasting 3-6 months. They were negotiated by delegates and experts nominated by the participating countries. The second stage was the development and subsequent coordination of agreements on items on the agenda of the general meeting. Finland again became the site of the third round. Helsinki hosted top state and political leaders.
Negotiators
Helsinki agreements discussed:
- Gen. Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Brezhnev.
- President of America J. Ford.
- German Federal Chancellor Schmidt.
- French President V. Giscard d'Estaing.
- British Prime Minister Wilson.
- President of Czechoslovakia Husak.
- First Secretary of the SED Central Committee Honecker.
- President of the State CouncilZhivkov.
- First Secretary of the HSWP Central Committee Kadar and others.
The meeting on security and cooperation in Europe was held with the participation of representatives of 35 states, including officials from Canada and the United States.
Accepted documents
The Helsinki Declaration was approved by the participating countries. In accordance with it, proclaimed:
- The inviolability of state borders.
- Mutual renunciation of the use of force in conflict resolution.
- Non-intervention in the internal politics of participating states.
- Respect for human rights and other provisions.
In addition, the heads of delegations signed the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. It contained agreements to be executed as a whole. The main directions recorded in the document were:
- Security in Europe.
- Cooperation in the field of economy, technology, ecology, science.
- Interaction in humanitarian and other fields.
- Following up after the CSCE.
Key Principles
The final act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe included 10 provisions, in accordance with which the norms of interaction were determined:
- Sovereign equality.
- Not using or threatening to use force.
- Respect for sovereign rights.
- Territorial integrity.
- Inviolability of borders.
- Respect for freedoms and human rights.
- Non-intervention in domestic politics.
- Equality of peoples and their right to independently control their own destiny.
- Interaction between countries.
- Fulfillment of international legal obligations.
The Helsinki Final Act acted as a guarantee of the recognition and inviolability of post-war borders. This was beneficial primarily to the USSR. In addition, the Helsinki process made it possible to formulate and impose obligations on all participating countries to strictly observe freedoms and human rights.
Short-term consequences
What prospects did the Helsinki process open up? The date of its holding is considered by historians as the apogee of detente in the international arena. The USSR was most interested in the issue of post-war borders. For the Soviet leadership, it was extremely important to achieve recognition of the inviolability of post-war borders, the territorial integrity of countries, which meant international legal consolidation of the situation in Eastern Europe. All this happened as part of a compromise. The question of human rights is a problem that interested Western countries that visited the Helsinki process. The year of the CSCE became the starting point for the development of the dissident movement in the USSR. The international legal consolidation of the obligatory observance of human rights made it possible to launch a campaign to protect them in the Soviet Union, which was actively carried out at that time by Western states.
Interesting fact
It is worth saying that since 1973 there have been separate negotiations betweenrepresentatives of the countries participating in the Warsaw Pact and NATO. The issue of arms reduction was discussed. But the expected success was never achieved. This was due to the tough position of the Warsaw Pact states, which were superior to NATO in terms of conventional weapons and did not want to reduce them.
Military-strategic balance
The Helsinki process ended with a compromise. After signing the final document, the USSR began to feel like a master and began to install SS-20 missiles in Czechoslovakia and the GDR, which were distinguished by an average range. Restriction on them was not provided for under the SALT agreements. As part of the human rights campaign that intensified sharply in Western countries after the end of the Helsinki process, the position of the Soviet Union became very tough. Accordingly, the United States has taken a number of retaliatory measures. After refusing to ratify the SALT-2 treaty in the early 1980s, America deployed missiles (Pershing and cruise missiles) in Western Europe. They could reach the territory of the USSR. As a result, a military-strategic balance was established between the blocs.
Long-term consequences
The arms race had a rather negative impact on the economic condition of countries whose military-industrial orientation did not decrease. The parity with the United States, achieved before the start of the Helsinki process, concerned primarily ballistic intercontinental missiles. Since the end of the 70s. the general crisis began to have a negative impact on the defense industries. USSR gradually beganlag behind in some types of weapons. This came to light after the appearance of "cruise missiles" in America. The lag became more obvious after the start of the development of the "strategic defense initiative" program in the United States.
