POLITICAL-STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK FOR SOVIET OCEANIC 
POLICY 
(By John R. Thomas*) 
Soviet Union’s current oceanic policy has developed in response 
to the imperatives of its expansive post-World War II foreign policy, 
the resultant strategic problems and opportunities, and domestic politi- 
cal-economic developments. In turn, the oceanic policy has been 
responsible for the full range of. Soviet capabilites visible on the 
world’s oceans today from naval vessels making “courtesy calls” at 
many foreign ports to Soviet ships carrying foreign goods, fishing 
off distant coasts, and carrying out scientific research on all oceans. 
NEw FOREIGN POLICY 
The beginning of this transformation of the U.S.S.R. from an insular 
landlocked nation—the interests of which the West at one time totally 
ignored even in areas as close to the U.S.S.R. as the Middle East—to 
a worldwide oceanic competitor of the United States can be dated 
to the mid-fifties. It was then that the Soviet leadership asserted global 
aspirations. 
Thus, Khrushchev, in classic, non-Communist terminology, declared 
the U.S.S.R. to be a great power (velikaya derzhava, a term used 
in Tsarist Russia), with worldwide interests and without whose par- 
ticipation no problem on earth could be solved. The current post- 
Khrushchev leadership reaffirmed his sentiment with even greater 
vigor, though in less colorful language. The Soviet Foreign Minister 
Gromyko put it most explicitly in 1968: 
The Soviet Union is a great power situated on two con- 
tinents—Europe and Asia, but the range of our country’s interna- 
tional interests is determined not by its geographical positions 
alone... 
The Soviet people do not plead with anyone for a say in the 
solution of any question concerning the maintenance of interna- 
tional peace, the freedom of and independence of the peoples 
and our country’s extensive interests. ' 
And, hinting at an expanding Soviet oceanic policy, Gromyko 
declared further: 
*John R. Thomas, a Soviet affairs specialist, is the U.S.S.R. program director of the National 
Science Foundation. In this capacity, he has been involved in activities under the various U.S.-Soviet 
agreements including the World’s Oceans Agreement. As a senior staff member with several U.S. 
research organizations, he earlier participated in numerous studies on Soviet foreign policy and 
Strategy. He has written extensively on Soviet affairs for various professional journals and has con- 
tributed chapters on Soviet foreign policy and strategy to several volumes on Soviet developments. 
He has had wide travel and residence experience in the U.S.S.R. and extensive contact with Soviet 
research institutes. 
"Consistent Policy of Peace,” Report to the U.S.S.R. Supreme Soviet on June 27, 1968, Novosti 
Press, Moscow, 1968, pp. 37-38. 
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