THE AGREEMENTS OF DETENTE

SALT I.
From 1972, US President Nixon and the leader of the USSR, Brezhnev, began a series of talks aimed at
improving relations. In 1972 the two superpowers agreed to limit their nuclear weapons when they signed
the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Agreement - SALT 1.

SALT II.
Talks continued throughout the 1970s with a view to further limitations. President Carter signed a SALT II
agreement in June 1979 at a US - USSR summit in Vienna (with Brezhnev). But the Senate had not yet
ratified the treaty when the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan altered the political climate.

THE HELSINKI CONFERENCE

THE CONFERENCE ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE FROM 1973 TO

1975
In 1975 the US, the USSR and other powers (35 countries) signed the Helsinki Agreement. The
final act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe consisted of three areas.
➢ The first - existing borders were confirmed and the parties swore peaceful settlements of disputes.
➢ The second - dealt with cooperation in terms of trade, culture, science and industry.
➢ The third - addressed humanitarian concerns and called for free movement of peoples and circulation
of ideas.
THE END OF THE COLD WAR - 1989
The diplomacy of the last decade of the Cold War was dominated by Ronald Reagan (*US President 1981
- 1989) and Mikhail Gorbachev (*leader of the Soviet Union 1985 - 1991).
The Cold War finally ended not only because of the negotiations in the 1980s but also because the Communist
Bloc collapsed from within, in a domino effect.
In 1989 most of the Eastern European countries freed themselves from communism in a series of revolutions.

TASK 1: Read the text: President Ronald Reagan and other Western leaders
Ronald Reagan became US President in January 1981. He was President until 1988. He had only one policy
about the USSR - get tough. He criticised its control over Eastern Europe. He also increased the USA's
military spending by $32 billion. He then challenged the USSR to keep up with American arms spending.
Reagan was generally very popular with the American people. He also had the support of other Western
leaders such as Britain's Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and France's President Mitterand. Reagan
was extremely anti-Communist. Reagan's tough tactics increased the USSR's problems. But, in a way,
Reagan helped Gorbachev. It was clear by the late 1980s that the USSR could not compete with American
military spending. This helped Gorbachev to push through his military spending cuts. Reagan got on quite
well with Gorbachev himself. They met at summit conferences and discussed many issues. As superpower
relations improved, the USSR felt less threatened by the USA. This meant there was less need for the USSR
to control Eastern Europe.