In the initial two years of his power, the first and last president of the USSR, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev, based foreign policy on traditional ideology. But in 1987-1988 the priorities were severely adjusted. The president insisted on new political thinking. It has greatly reduced the tension in the world. But Soviet politicians made certain miscalculations that led to the victory of the West.
Key dates
In the foreign policy of the USSR in 1985-1991. main dates are:
- 1985 - the debut meeting of the presidents of the two world powers.
- 1987 - Gorbachev proposes to follow a new concept.
- The same year. An agreement has been drawn up to eliminate certain types of missiles.
- 1989 - Troops withdrawn from Afghan territory.
- 1991 - The USSR and the US sign a treaty obliging them to reduce and limit offensive weapons.
Prerequisites for change
The beginning of the 80s turned out to be a failure for the international policy led by the USSR. This was expressed in the following paragraphs:
- Potenti althe development of the Cold War on a new round. It would only add to the tension in the world.
- The country's economy, which was in deep crisis, could finally collapse.
- USSR was no longer able to help friendly countries. This would lead to his ruin.
- Due to ideological foundations, the external economy was limited, and the entire country could not fully develop.
Gorbachev comes to power
At first he did not foretell any special reforms. The President was determined to fight the military danger, strengthen ties with friendly countries and support national liberation movements.
Changes in the foreign policy of the USSR in 1985-1991. began to occur after the castling in the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: A. A. Gromyko was fired, Eduard Shevardnadze took his post.
Key tasks were immediately identified:
- Normalize relations with the West, especially with the US.
- Start mutual elimination of weapons.
- End armed conflicts with US allies on three continents: South America, Asia and Africa.
- Establishing economic and political relations with states regardless of their political status.
New postulates
In 1987, an innovative (at that time) concept began to be implemented. Its main postulates were:
- Maintaining the integrity of the world, preventing its split into two political bases.
- Failure to connect armies to solvekey issues. So the powers could stop measuring arms. And there would be universal trust in the world.
- Total human values should transcend the ideas of class, ideologies, religions, etc. Thus, the USSR rejected international socialist unity, putting the interests of the whole world above it.
Relations with America
The new concept implied constant contacts between the heads of the two powers: the US and the USSR. In 1985, the debut meeting between Gorbachev and Reagan took place.
It has become a prerequisite for reducing tensions between their states. Their meetings then acquired an annual character. On December 8, 1987, the presidents entered into a landmark agreement. It went down in history under the name "INF Treaty" (more about it in a separate paragraph).
In the next two years, the economic situation has seriously deteriorated. And ideology receded into the background. Gorbachev counted on the assistance of the West, he often had to make concessions to him.
The turning point in relations with the US is the meeting between Mikhail Gorbachev and George W. Bush, held at the end of 1989. At it, the Soviet president declared Brezhnev's concept dead. This obliged the USSR not to interfere with the ongoing reforms in Eastern Europe and in the internal union republics. In other words, it was forbidden to send military forces there.
In the summer of 1991, the signing of START-1 took place. According to this pact, the US and the USSR were to significantly limit their strategic offensive weapons. And both countries pledged to reduce by 40% the most powerfulvariations of similar weapons.
Trap - Afghanistan
The war here began in December 1979 and ended in February 1989. The Mujahideen and allied armies of the Afghan government opposed the Soviet troops.
In 1978, Afghanistan was torn apart by internal unrest, there was a change of power. In 1979, the first Soviet military forces arrived there. They managed to successfully complete important operations, for example, to eliminate the aggressor Amin.
In 1980, the UN Assembly adopted a resolution according to which the Soviet armies had to leave Afghanistan immediately. The United States boycotted the 1980 Olympics and provided considerable financial assistance to Afghan militants. Help came to them from Pakistan and the kingdoms located in the Persian Gulf.
This alignment significantly complicated the position of the USSR troops. By the mid-80s, they had to develop their numbers. And it exceeded 108,700 soldiers. All this was accompanied by enormous expenses.
In the USSR itself, perestroika took place on the initiative of a new reformer, Mikhail Gorbachev. She raised a lot of questions in society. The politician saw in her a way out of a difficult situation. And one of the priorities of the foreign policy of the USSR during perestroika was the completion of the Afghan campaign.
The key event in the resolution of this problem occurred in 1988, on April 14th. An emergency meeting of representatives of the governments of four countries was arranged in Geneva: the Soviet Union, the USA, Afghanistan and Pakistan. An agreement was concluded on the speedy settlement of the situation in the indicatedcountry.
A schedule for the withdrawal of Soviet forces was formed. Its extreme points are:
- 15.05.1988 (Beginning).
- 15.02.1989 (End).
The Mujahideen did not participate in the Geneva meeting and did not share many of the points of that agreement. And after the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan in 1989, the country was tormented by civil military confrontation for several more years.
This war was a clever move by American politicians. It was a skillful trap for the USSR, which became one of the foundations of its downfall.
Other military areas
In 1989, Soviet troops left not only Afghanistan, but also Mongolia. In parallel, the USSR helped withdraw the Vietnamese armies from Cambodia. All these actions improved ties with China. Cooperation was established with him in many areas: trade, politics, culture, sports, etc.
An important feature of the foreign policy of the USSR in 1985-1991. was the rejection of direct participation in military conflicts in countries such as Angola, Ethiopia and Nicaragua. As a result, civil armed clashes ended there, and coalition authorities were formed.
Other important decisions to reduce tension in the world by the USSR were as follows:
- Dramatic reduction of gratuitous assistance to Libya and Iraq. Western support in the Gulf War (1990).
- Establishing relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors (1991).
USSR helped to improve the international atmosphere, but the fruits of its work cannot be usedmanaged.
The situation with socialist countries
Foreign policy of the USSR in 1985-1991. meant the withdrawal of troops not only from the above countries, but also from states located in the East and the center of Europe, and included in the socialist bloc.
In 1989-90, "soft" revolutions took place in them. There was a peaceful change of power. The only exception was Romania, where there were bloody conflicts.
In Europe, there has been a trend towards the decline of the socialist camp. The following prerequisites served for this:
- Cessation of hostilities by the USSR.
- The collapse of Yugoslavia.
- Unification of East Germany and Germany.
- Accession to NATO of many countries that were part of this camp.
- Disappearance of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance.
- The collapse of the socialist coalition formed on the basis of the Warsaw Pact.
The USSR did not interfere in many processes that significantly changed the European political map. These were forced measures due to the notorious new political thinking and the colossal economic decline of the late 1980s.
The country has become too dependent on the West, and also lost its former allies and has not gained new serious support. Her authority was rapidly declining, and on key international issues, her opinion was not taken into account by NATO representatives. Western powers were more supportive of individually allied entities (republics). All these factors led to the collapse of the USSR.
And at the end of 1991, absolute dominance was indicated in the worldUSA. And its president (D. Bush Sr.) congratulated all citizens on their triumph.
INF Agreement
It was signed by the USA and the USSR in 1987, December 8th. It came into force on June 1 of the following year. According to this Soviet-American agreement, both sides are prohibited from manufacturing, testing and distributing the following types of missiles:
- Ballistic.
- Winged with ground deployment.
- Medium range (1000 - 5500 km).
- Shorter range (500 - 1000 km).
Rocket launchers were also banned.
Both countries totally destroyed the missiles of paragraph 1 and paragraph 2 in the initial three years of the treaty's activity. At the same time, launchers for these weapons, auxiliary equipment and operational complexes were also eliminated. In order for both parties to strictly comply with the criteria of this agreement, until May 2001 they sent inspections to each other to check the production of missiles.
After the collapse of the USSR, the obligations for the practical implementation of the treaty fell on Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. They formed one side of it. The second also remains the United States. As a result of the implementation of the agreement, an entire category of nuclear weapons was eliminated.
The treaty, being indefinite, maintains the stability of world security. Recently, however, both the US and Russia have begun to present claims to each other for revealing its violations. Both sides do not admit their guilt and consider the accusations unsubstantiated.
