USSR ACTIVITIES FOR STRENGTHENING TRADE AND ECONOMIC RELATIONS WITH THE GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC AND THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC UNION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE 1960s 

Kondrashin Viktor Viktorovich, Doctor of historical sciences, professor, head of sub-department of Russian history and history teaching methods, Penza State University (40, Krasnaya street, Penza, Russia); principal researcher, Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences (19, Dmitriya Ulyanova street, Moscow, Russia), E-mail: vikont37@yandex.ru
Tyurina Elena Aleksandrovna, Candidate of historical sciences, director of the Russian State Archive of Economy (17, Bolshaya Pirogovskaya street, Moscow, Russia), E-mail: kanc@rgae.ru 

93/94 

DOI

10.21685/2072-3024-2019-4-8 

Background. The relevance of the study is determined by the “sanction” situations in the field of economic relations between Russia and the countries of the European Union, including those that were previously members of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA), the main interstate body for economic integration of the countries of the “world socialist system”, where the USSR occupied the leading place. In this context, the CMEA history is an important historical experience of the diplomatic and economic activities of the USSR in overcoming the “isolation” of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in the international arena and in the framework of interaction with the countries of the European Economic Union. That is why the purpose of this article is to analyze the trade and economic relations of the USSR with the GDR in the 1960-years, at the stage of strengthening the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and recognizing it as an important subject of the world economy by leading Western countries. The topic of the article is also relevant in connection with the need to further study the history of economic integration of Russia with European countries in the second half of the 20th century using new sources, the most important of which are the documents of the CMEA Secretariat stored in the Russian State Archive of Economics (RGAE).
Materials and methods. The implementation of research tasks was achieved on the basis of the study of historical documents – materials of the CMEA Secretariat, previously not available to a wide circle of researchers and, for the first time, introduced into scientific circulation and constituting its main source base. The methodological basis of the study is the principle of historicism, which allows us to analyze the mechanism of trade and economic relations of the USSR with the GDR and the EEU during the period under review. The diachronous method made it possible to illuminate the process of developing relations between the USSR and the GDR and the EEU countries in the economic sphere in a historical sequence against a general historical background. The synchronous method made it possible to establish causal relationships between events and phenomena that took place in the USSR, East Germany, and Western countries.
Results. Based on an analysis of the documents of the Russian State Archive of Economics, the main facts are established that characterize the history of the trade and economic relations of the USSR with the GDR and the EEU countries in the framework of the CMEA in the 1960-years.
Conclusions. A study of the CMEA Secretariat documents in the Russian State Archive of Economics led to the conclusion that in the 1960s, during the period of strengthening CMEA as a body coordinating the economic development of the countries of “socialism”, the Soviet Union provided significant economic support to the GDR and other Eastern European states in the zone of its control after the Second World War (Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, etc.). This support, combined with vigorous diplomatic efforts, allowed the GDR to be removed from economic and political isolation. During the period under review, the USSR and the German Democratic Republic pursued a consistent policy of strengthening economic ties with the countries of the EEU. 

Key words

USSR, GDR, CMEA, EEU, UN, trade and economic relations 

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