The Helsinki process. The Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe

In October 1964 the leadership was changed in the USSR. The unity of the socialist camp was broken, the relations between the East and the West were very strained because of the Caribbean crisis. In addition, the German problem remained unsolved, which was very troubling to the leadership of the USSR. In these conditions, the newest history of the Soviet state began. The decisions taken at the 23rd Congress of the CPSU in 1966 confirmed the orientation toward a more stringent foreign policy. Peaceful coexistence from this moment was subordinated to a qualitatively different tendency to strengthen the socialist regime, to strengthen solidarity between the national liberation movement and the proletariat.

Complexity of the situation

The restoration of absolute control in the socialist camp was complicated by tense relations with China and Cuba. Problems brought events in Czechoslovakia. In June 1967, a congress of writers openly opposed the leadership of the party. After that, mass student strikes and demonstrations began. As a result of the strengthening of the opposition, Novotnoy had to give way to Dubcek leadership of the party 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 of leaders. However, the situation was resolved by the entry of troops from the five Warsaw Treaty member states. To suppress the disturbance immediately failed. This forced the leadership of the USSR to remove Dubcek and his entourage, putting Gusak at the head of the party. On the example of Czechoslovakia, the so-called Brezhnev doctrine was implemented , the principle of "limited sovereignty." The suppression of reforms stopped the country's modernization for at least 20 years. In 1970, the situation was aggravated in Poland. The problems were connected with an increase in prices, which caused mass worker uprisings in the Baltic ports. During the following years, the situation did not improve, the strikes continued. The leader of the unrest was the Solidarity trade union, led by L. Valensa. The leadership of the USSR did not dare to introduce troops, and the "normalization" of the situation was entrusted to the gene. Jaruzelski. On December 13, 1981, he introduced martial law in Poland.

Discharge of tension

In the early 70's. The relationship between East and West has changed dramatically. Tension began to weaken. In many respects this was due to the achievement of military parity between the USSR and the US, the East and the West. At the first stage, the cooperation between the Soviet Union and France was established, and then with the FRG. At the turn of the 60-70's. 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 are, however, the fact that neither the West nor the USSR refused to pursue this policy from the arms race. The whole process thus acquired a civilized framework. The newest history of relations between the West and the East began with a significant expansion of spheres of cooperation, mainly Soviet-American. In addition, the relations between the USSR and the Federal Republic of Germany and France improved. The latter withdrew from NATO in 1966, which served as a basis for active development of cooperation.

The German problem

To solve it, the USSR hoped to receive mediation assistance from France. However, it was not required, since the Social Democrat W. Brandt became the chancellor. The essence of his policy was that the unification of the territory of Germany no longer acted as an indispensable condition for establishing relations between the East and the West. It was postponed for the future as a key objective of multilateral negotiations. Thanks to this, the Moscow Treaty was concluded on August 12, 1970. In accordance with it, the parties pledged to observe the integrity of all the countries of Europe within their actual borders. The FRG, in particular, recognized the western limits of Poland. And the line with the GDR. An important step was also the signing in the autumn of 1971 of a quadripartite agreement on Zap. To Berlin. This agreement confirmed the groundlessness of the political and territorial claims on him from the FRG. This became an absolute victory for the USSR, since all the conditions on which the Soviet Union insisted since 1945 were fulfilled.

Assessment of the position of America

The quite favorable development of events enabled the leadership of the USSR to become stronger in the opinion that a radical shift in the balance of forces in favor of the Soviet Union took place on the international arena. And the states of the socialist camp. The position of America and the imperialist bloc was assessed by Moscow as "weakened". This confidence was built on several factors. The key factors were the continuing 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 build-up 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 SALT-2

The need to achieve parity has given relevance to the issue of bilateral arms limitation, in particular ballistic intercontinental missiles. 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 with respect to strategic weapons. This contract was called SALT-1. He was imprisoned for 5 years. The agreement limited the number of ballistic intercontinental missiles of the United States and the USSR launched from submarines. The permissible levels for the Soviet Union were higher, since America possessed armaments carrying warheads with separating elements. At the same time, the number of charges in the agreement was not specified. This allowed, without violating the treaty, to achieve a one-sided advantage in this area. SALT-1, thus, did not stop the arms race. The formation of the system of agreements was continued in 1974. L. Brezhnev and J. Ford succeeded in agreeing on new conditions for limiting strategic arms. The signing of the SALT-2 agreement was 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 limiting levels. In 1979 the treaty was signed by Brezhnev and Carter, but the US Congress did not ratify it until 1989.

Results of the policy of detente

During the years of the implementation of the Peace Program, serious progress was achieved in the cooperation of East and West. The total volume of trade increased by 5 times, and the Soviet-American trade by 8. The strategy for cooperation was to sign large contracts with Western companies for the purchase of technology or the construction of plants. So at the turn of the 60-70's. In the framework of the agreement with the Italian corporation "Fiat", a VAZ was created. But this event can be attributed to exceptions rather than to the rule. The international programs in the most part were limited to inexpedient business trips of delegations. Import of foreign technologies was carried out on an ill-conceived scheme. The truly fruitful cooperation was adversely affected by administrative and bureaucratic obstacles. As a result, many contracts did not meet expectations.

The Helsinki process of 1975

Disorder in the relations of East and West, however, has borne fruit. It allowed the convening of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. The first consultations took place in 1972-1973. The country that adopted 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 Foreign Ministers. The first stage was held from 3 to 7 July 1973. The platform for the next round of negotiations was Geneva. The second stage was held from 18.09.1973 to 21.07.1975. He assumed several tours of 3-6 months duration. The talks were conducted by delegates and experts nominated by the participating countries. The second stage was the development and subsequent coordination of agreements on the agenda items of the general meeting. Finland was again the site of the third round. Helsinki hosted top state and political leaders.

Participants in negotiations

The Helsinki agreements were discussed:

• Gene. Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Brezhnev.
• President of the USA J. Ford.
• Federal Chancellor of Germany Schmidt.
• French President V. Giscard d'Estaing.
• Prime Minister of Great Britain Wilson.
• President of Czechoslovakia Gusak.
• The first secretary of the Central Committee of the German Socialist Unity Party Honnedker.
• Chairman of the State Council Zhivkov.
• First Secretary of the Central Committee of the HSWP Kadar and others.

The Conference 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 participating countries approved the Helsinki Declaration. In accordance with it, the following were proclaimed:

• The inviolability of state borders.
• Mutual abandonment of the use of force in conflict resolution.
• Non-interference in the internal policies 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 that are to be implemented as a whole. The main directions documented in the document were:

1. Security in Europe.
2. Cooperation in the sphere of economy, engineering, ecology, science.
3. Interaction in humanitarian and other fields.
4. Further action after the CSCE.

Key principles

The final act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe included 10 provisions, according to which the norms of interaction were defined:

1. Sovereign equality.
2. The non-use of force or the threat of its use.
3. Respect for sovereign rights.
4. Territorial integrity.
5. The inviolability of boundaries.
6. Respect for freedoms and human rights.
7. Non-interference in domestic politics.
8. Equal rights of peoples and their right to independently manage their own destiny.
9. Interaction between countries.
10. Execution of international legal obligations.

The Helsinki Final act was a guarantee of recognition and inviolability of the post-war borders. This was beneficial primarily to the USSR. In addition, the Helsinki process allowed to formulate and impose obligations on all participating countries on the strict observance of freedoms and human rights.

Short-term consequences

What prospects did the Helsinki process open? The date of its conduct is considered by historians to be the apogee of detente in the international arena. The USSR was most interested in the question of the post-war borders. For the Soviet leadership it was extremely important to obtain recognition of the inviolability of the post-war borders, the territorial integrity of the countries, which meant international legal consolidation of the situation prevailing in Eastern Europe. All this happened in the framework of a compromise. The issue of human rights is an issue of interest to Western countries that visited the Helsinki process. The year the CSCE became the starting point for the development of the dissident movement in the USSR. International legal consolidation of the obligation to respect human rights allowed 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 mentioning that since 1973 there have been separate talks between representatives of the Warsaw Pact member states and NATO. The issue of arms reduction was discussed. But the expected success was never achieved. This was due to the stiff position of the Warsaw Pact states, which exceeded NATO in conventional types of weapons and did not want to reduce them.

Military-strategic balance

The Helsinki process ended in 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 differed in the average range of action. The restriction on them was not provided for under the SALT agreements. As part of the campaign to protect human rights, sharply intensified in Western countries after the Helsinki process ended, 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 state of countries whose military-industrial orientation did not decline. Parity with the United States, reached before the Helsinki process began, concerned first of all ballistic intercontinental missiles. Since the late 70's. The general crisis began to negatively affect the defense industries. The USSR gradually began to lag behind in some types of weapons. It was revealed after the appearance of America's "cruise missiles." More obvious lag was after the start of the development of the program on the "strategic defense initiative" in the United States.