Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0397/03974.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 13KB | 243 lines

$Unique_ID{COW03974}
$Pretitle{295}
$Title{Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Foreign Policy}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Hippocrene Books, Inc}
$Affiliation{Embassy of USSR, Washington DC}
$Subject{soviet
diplomacy
foreign
peace
affairs
international
ministry
policy
ussr
union}
$Date{1990}
$Log{}
Country:     Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Book:        USSR Yearbook '90
Author:      Hippocrene Books, Inc
Affiliation: Embassy of USSR, Washington DC
Date:        1990

Foreign Policy

     The process of reform under way in the USSR has been perceptibly changing
every area of life, and foreign policy is no exception. It has been laying an
ever greater emphasis on the primacy of common human values and recognition
of the immutable fact that the only way to assure any nation's security on
the eve of the 21st century is through a system of comprehensive international
security.

     Accordingly, Soviet foreign policy is giving preference to political
means over military ones. The USSR has been consistent in coming forward in
favour of the renunciation of tactics from the position of strength,
confrontation, intimidation and pressure, dictatorial practices and
interference in the affairs of others. The distinguishing features of the
present Soviet foreign policy are the economic profitability of foreign policy
decisions and due regard for the interests of the people of this country and
those of other nations, given the primacy of law, ethics and morality.

     Soviet diplomacy has always been orientated towards peace, a fact which
is dictated by the very nature of socialism, a social system that is guided,
first and foremost, by the interests of the popular masses who have no stake
in war, land-grabbing or subjugating other peoples. The history of Soviet
diplomacy knows numerous important achievements which have played a crucial
part in the struggle for peace, the peaceful coexistence of nations and the
prevention of new wars. However, Soviet diplomacy has suffered in the past
from clear miscalculations and mistakes which were largely due to the elements
of command-and-administration methods in the diplomatic service. Therefore, in
the process of reshaping Soviet diplomacy, a great deal of attention has been
paid to eradicating past defects, right from the outset.

     The confrontation of two systems can no longer be regarded as the leading
trend of modern times. Nowadays, the interdependence of the nations of the
world community comes first.

     Fresh approaches to the practical and theoretical tasks of diplomacy have
necessitated far closer cooperation between the Soviet Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and specialists. This has made it possible to conduct a fruitful
scientific analysis of foreign affairs, to forecast the development of the
world situation and help Soviet diplomacy develop a diversity of options,
which it lacked in the past.

     It is becoming a standing practice for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
the USSR to hold conferences, bringing together not only members of the
Ministry's staff, but also historians, philosophers, economists, and leading
journalists who are writers on international affairs. Such conferences provide
solid theoretical and philosophical grounds for both short-term and long-term
Soviet foreign policy planning, and an opportunity to analyze the possible
ways in which the international situation might develop on a world-wide scale,
in individual regions, or at the so-called flash-points of the planet. This
makes it possible for diplomats to be ready for any particular course of
events, and to have a set of diplomatic options to choose from for meeting a
particular contingency.

     Soviet diplomacy has been making increasingly wide use of creative
intellectual potential. Perestroika has set off nothing short of an
intellectual explosion. Cultural workers are active in improving socialist
society, including its international course.

     The major priorities of Soviet diplomacy are:

     to promote relations with socialist countries in every way;

     to forge closer contacts with the countries of the Third World and with
the Non-Aligned Movement;

     to conduct a full-scale dialogue with all states without exception in
major areas of world politics.

     The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR has been substantially
restructured to make diplomacy more effective. Special departments have been
created, for example, to handle such important areas as disarmament,
humanitarian issues and information. The process of merging smaller units is
taking place. The three former African departments, for instance, were
amalgamated late in 1988 to make up a Board of African Countries. There has
been a big shake-up in personnel, and over three-quarters of the Ministry's
executive staff have been replaced.

     The performance of the Soviet embassies and other institutions abroad is
being upgraded, although so far the progress has not been as rapid as within
the Ministry itself. There was a special representative conference on this
matter in Moscow in the autumn of 1989.

     The appalling devastating earthquake in Armenia late in 1988 served as a
touch-stone to test the effectiveness of perestroika of Soviet diplomacy.
Millions of people around the world came to the aid of the republic, like
members of one grief-stricken family. Hundreds of medical and other
specialists from dozens of countries declared themselves ready and willing to
share in the rescue and relief operations. This posed complicated, and in many
ways unusual, problems for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Yet it managed
to resolve them. The formalities of bygone times were dropped right in the
wake of the disaster. Rescue teams, physicians, and other specialists were
allowed to enter the country without visas, and customs controls were
simplified. Issues that had often taken weeks to settle previously were coped
with in a matter of hours. Armenia's airports threw their gates wide open, as
it were, to all those who made the gesture of solidarity.

     And although the unusual situation initially puzzled some officials, who
were accustomed to the largely long-drawn-out formalities of the past, on
balance, the decisions concerning relief were taken in a new spirit and
without any procrastination. This style of diplomacy proved to be well
worthwhile.

     Having allowed foreign specialists to offer direct aid right at the scene
of the earthquake, the Soviet Union turned out to be the first nation to put
into effect the December 8, 1988 UN Resolution On the New International
Humanitarian Order.

     When the rescue operations were over and the time came for rebuilding
what had been destroyed in Armenia, foreign specialists started to make
offers of long-term cooperation in restoring the Republic's socio-economic
potential, organizing joint research and development work in medicine, and
strengthening contacts in production as well as in the cultural and
humanitarian fields. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR has been
taking full account of all offers and carefully watching how they are being
put into effect.

     The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR also took unusual action, in
conjunction with a number of other Soviet organizations, to meet a dramatic
challenge that arose when a band of terrorists took a group of schoolchildren
hostage in Ordzhonikidze, in December 1988. An emergency crisis group set to
work at once in the Foreign Ministry building in Smolenskaya Square in Moscow
to monitor the movement of the hijacked airliner. They had to find a way to
rescue the children. A hot-line was set up with the Soviet consular group in
Tel Aviv. When the airliner landed there, the terrorists were arrested and
extradited. This was an operation that the Soviet Union and Israel could not
have been expected to carry out jointly a few years ago. It proved that the
standards of civilized international behaviour were gaining ground in the
modern world.

PEOPLE'S DIPLOMACY

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