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Soviet Union [USSR] SOVIET-WEST EUROPEAN RELATIONS
Soviet relations with Western Europe since World War II have
been heavily colored by Soviet relations with Eastern Europe and by
the presence of Warsaw Pact forces arrayed against NATO forces. The
Soviet influence over Eastern Europe, reinforced in West European
eyes by Soviet invasions of Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in
1968 and by the buildup of Soviet conventional and nuclear forces,
fostered efforts in the 1980s among the West European states of
NATO to bolster their defenses and discouraged closer relations
between West European countries and the Soviet Union.
Since the end of World War II and the establishment of Soviet
hegemony over Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union has had five goals
in regard to Western Europe: preventing the rearming and
nuclearization of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany);
preventing the political, economic, and military integration of
Western Europe; obtaining West European endorsement of the
territorial status quo in Europe; encouraging anti-Americanism and
troubled relations with the United States; and fostering
neutralism, nuclear disarmament, and the creation of nuclear
weapons-free zones through the encouragement of peace groups and
leftist movements. The Soviet Union has succeeded in achieving some
of these goals but has been unsuccessful in achieving others.
In general, Soviet leaders have stated that the proper
relationship between Western Europe and the Soviet Union should be
similar to the relationship between Finland and the Soviet Union.
As stated by then-Politburo member Andropov in 1978, "SovietFinnish relations today constitute a sound and stable system of
enjoyment of equal rights of cooperation in the diverse areas of
political, economic, and political life. This constitutes détente,
as embodied in daily contacts, détente which makes peace stronger
and the life of people better and calmer." More broadly, neutralism
is extolled by the Soviet Union as a transitional historical model
for Western and Third World states to follow in their relations
with the Soviet Union, typified by nonparticipation in Western
military alliances and economic organizations and by political
support for anti-imperialism, capitalist disarmament, national
liberation, and other foreign policies favored by the Soviet Union.
During the early to mid-1980s, Soviet leaders attempted to
foster a "European détente" separate from détente with the United
States. This attempt failed, however, because of the determination
of West European governments to modernize NATO and deploy
countervailing nuclear systems and the failure of Soviet-cultivated
peace and other groups to influence West European policy.
Data as of May 1989
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