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Soviet Union [USSR] COMMUNICATIONS
Communications systems were controlled by the regime and were
primarily used by it to convey decisions and to facilitate the
execution of directives affecting the economy, national security,
and administrative governmental functions. The Ministry of
Communications, a
union-republic ministry (see Glossary), was
responsible for radio, telegraph and telephone transmissions,
communications satellites, and the postal service. Several other
governmental organizations were concerned with communications,
including the State Committee for Television and Radio
Broadcasting, the Ministry of Defense (for military
communications), the Ministry of Culture (for educational
broadcasts), and others that controlled and operated electronic
communications for their own needs. Communications organizations
were also on the republic and lower administrative levels.
Electronic communications systems in the Soviet Union,
especially radio and television broadcasting, experienced a rapid
growth in the 1960s and 1970s
(see Soviet Union USSR - Radio;
Soviet Union USSR -
Television and Video Cassette Recorders
, ch. 9). Although
telephone communications were
also expanded in the same period, the rate was slower. By 1989 the
Soviet Union had a powerful telecommunications system that sent
radio, television, and telephone messages to almost any location in
the world.
In 1965 the Soviet Union launched the Molniia (Lightning)
satellite communications system linking Moscow to remote towns and
military installations in the northern parts of the country. The
Molniia system, the world's first domestic satellite communications
network, retransmitted radio and television broadcasts originating
in Moscow. It was used as the initial back-up teleprinter link for
the "hot line" between Moscow and Washington. The system also
transmitted signals to spacecraft in the Soiuz, Saliut, and other
space programs. The Molniia system employed several satellites
following elliptical orbits and several ground stations that
exchanged signals with them as they came into range.
In 1971 the Soviet Union launched Intersputnik, an
international satellite communications network, with thirteen other
member nations: Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), East Germany,
Hungary, Laos, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, the People's Democratic
Republic of Yemen (South Yemen), and Vietnam. Algeria, Iraq, Libya,
and Syria became members subsequently, and Nicaragua and Cambodia
agreed to the construction of ground stations in 1986.
Headquartered in Moscow and governed by a board representing the
member nations, Intersputnik employed Molniia communications
satellites to link the telephone, telegraph, television, and radio
systems of member nations. Each member nation was responsible for
building and operating its own ground station, and the Soviet Union
had two dedicated stations--at Vladimir and Dubna. Intersputnik
participants used centrally located ground stations to relay
communications when they did not have direct access to the same
satellite.
Communications satellites in geostationary orbits, i.e., the
satellite's position remained fixed relative to a point on the
earth, were first launched by the Soviet Union in 1975. In 1985 the
geostationary, or Statsionar, system employed several different
kinds of communications satellites, including the Raduga (Rainbow),
Gorizont (Horizon), and Ekran (Screen). Since 1975 the Raduga
satellites have been generally used to relay domestic message
traffic between distant locations in the Soviet Union. They have
also electronically transferred the daily newspapers Pravda
and Izvestiia from Moscow to Khabarovsk for same-day
printing in the Soviet Far East. The Gorizont satellites' main
functions have been international communications with ground
stations, selecting global, regional, zone, or spot beams as
needed. Several Gorizont satellites have relayed electronic
versions of Pravda and Izvestiia to Irkutsk and
Krasnoyarsk for printing and distribution. Some Western authorities
considered Gorizont satellites capable of providing Soviet
television programs inexpensively to Third World countries. Ekran
satellites were used to relay radio and television signals to
community antenna systems in remote areas.
The Ministry of Communications operated almost 92,000 post and
telegraph offices and telephone exchanges, most of which were in
rural locations. In 1986 it forwarded about 8.5 billion letters,
50.3 billion newspapers and magazines, and 449 million telegrams.
In addition, it processed 814 million money orders and pension
payments. Despite constitutional guarantees of privacy of personal
correspondence, telephone conversations, and telegraph
communications, in the late 1980s the regime continued to authorize
extensive eavesdropping. Domestic and international mail was
subject to being opened and examined by government censors. Foreign
publications "which may cause political and economic prejudice to
the Soviet Union" were generally prohibited, and parcels from
foreign addresses were routinely searched for a wide variety of
prohibited articles, including consumer goods and food products,
and were returned or "lost."
Since the 1960s, the government has tried to expand and update
the telephone system, which, by Western standards of availability
and service, was woefully underdeveloped. In 1988 semiautomatic and
automatic telephone exchanges were coming on line within urban
centers, and direct long-distance dialing was expanding. To respond
to a growing demand for better telecommunications, in the 1980s the
Soviet Union turned to Western communications firms to acquire
digital telephone switching equipment, for which the need was
rapidly growing.
At the end of 1986, an estimated 33 million telephones were
connected with, or had access to, the Ministry of Communications
network. However, the total number of telephone sets connected to
Soviet networks was 39.5 million, which indicates that 6.5 million
sets were on separate networks not belonging to the Ministry of
Communications. Of the 33 million sets within the Ministry of
Communications system, 27.7 million were on urban and 5.3 million
on rural networks. Furthermore, of this total, 18.5 million
telephone sets were classified as residential, which meant not only
sets in private residences but also ones located in communal areas,
such as hallways of multifamily residences or in housing projects.
Indeed, according to official Soviet data, only 28 percent of urban
and 9.2 percent of rural families had telephones in 1986. In early
1987, for instance, 13.3 million requests were made for
installations of telephones in cities alone.
Other telecommunications systems, using both cable and
microwave carriers for facsimile and data transmission systems,
although under expansion by governmental authorities, still lagged
behind the user demand for their services. User needs, however,
determined neither the availability nor the quality of
communications services in the Soviet Union. Government planners,
following directives of the CPSU, allocated resources for
communications and transportation with little reference to
individual users. The regime gave precedence to the communications
needs of decision makers and to the transportation needs of the
national economy. Thus, it favored development of railroads, which
served as the major long-distance transporter of freight. It also
emphasized pipelines, as well as the maritime and air fleets, all
of which grew substantially during the 1970s and 1980s. In
contrast, the regime limited development of private automobiles and
maintained a road network that primarily served areas with
substantial industry and urban populations.
* * *
The overall Soviet transportation system is analyzed by Holland
Hunter and Vladimir Kontorovich in "Transport Pressures and
Potentials." A detailed study of the transportation of extracted
energy resources by rail, water, and pipeline can be found in
Matthew J. Sagers and Milford B. Green's The Transportation of
Soviet Energy Resources. A brief but useful transportation
overview is also found in J.P. Cole's Geography of the Soviet
Union. An insight into Soviet urban transportation services is
provided in Paul M. White's Planning of Urban Transport Systems
in the Soviet Union. Holland Hunter and Deborah Kaple's The
Soviet Railroad Situation assesses railroad operations, and
Soviet and East European Transport Problems, edited by John
Ambler, Denis Shaw, and Leslie Symans, treats Soviet railroads
within the East European context. For current reporting on Soviet
railroad developments, the following trade publications may be
consulted: Rail International, Schienen der Welt, Railway
Gazette International, and International Railway
Journal. For a comprehensive summary of Soviet railroads
including operating statistics, locomotives and rolling stock,
trackage, new construction, and technical data and characteristics,
the latest yearbook of Jane's Railway Systems is an
excellent source. A useful evaluation of rural trucking problems is
in Judith Flynn and Barbara Severin's "Soviet Agricultural
Transport," as well as in Elizabeth M. Clayton's "Soviet Rural
Roads." D.M. Long's The Soviet Merchant Fleet is a good work
to consult on the state of Morflot. Useful background material on
the Soviet civil airline from its inception to its maturity can be
found in Hugh MacDonald's Aeroflot. For Aeroflot operations
in the 1980s, including service, flight crew proficiency,
accidents, and handling of hijackings, the two-part article by
Michael York, "Flying with Aeroflot," is helpful. For information
about aircraft, the latest Jane's All the World's Aircraft
should be consulted. (For further information and complete
citations,
see Soviet Union USSR -
Bibliography.)
Data as of May 1989
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