24 
Equal rights in all sectors and in all spheres of activity in 
the international arena, including the adoption of measures to 
rotect the vital interests of the Soviet Union, its allies and 
riends; . . . freedom of navigation for ships and fleets, no lesser 
than that for the ships and fleets of any other power—all this 
determines our prospects and responsibility in world affairs.” 
Somewhat later Brezhnev, in reacting against attacks on Soviet mili- 
tary policy, confirmed the new Soviet interest in freedom of the seas 
around the world: 
. . . The U.S. Propaganda machine has initiated a whole cam- 
paign concerning the Soviet fleet. In Washington, it seems, a 
threat is envisioned from the appearance of our ships in the 
Mediterranean, in the Indian Ocean, in other seas. But with this, 
American politicians consider it normal and natural for the 6th 
Fleet to be be continually in the Mediterranean, which can be 
called the underside of the Soviet Union, and for the 7th Fleet 
(to be) at the shores of China and Indo-China. 
We never did and do not consider it an ideal situation in 
which the navies of a great power for extended times cruise 
scores of lands away from their own shores. And we are ready 
to solve this problem, but to solve it, so to say, as equals.* 
Having received the cue from the political chiefs, the Soviet military 
leaders thereafter echoed the new policy line by similarly expanding 
the definition of the mission of the Soviet Armed Forces to cover 
the larger scale of Soviet interests. According to Marshal Grechko, 
the late Soviet defense minister, the U.S.S.R. Armed Forces serve 
to defend the extensive gains of the socialist commonwealth now 
that under “the impact of the growth of the international authority 
of the U.S.S.R. fundamental changes in the world have oc- 
curred .. .” and “‘Capitalism has ceased to be the indivisibly dominant 
_ force in the world.’’4 
And, Admiral Gorshkov, the Soviet naval commander, underscored 
the change in Soviet foreign policy by noting the consequences for 
his command: the U.S.S.R. has created a new type of armed 
forces—an oceanic navy which, with its long range capabilities, guards 
Soviet state interests on the world’s seas and oceans.” 
In pursuit of the new global aspirations and missions, the U.S.S.R. 
leapfrogged into distant areas, beginning with massive aid to Egypt 
in the 1950’s and following up with diplomatic and economic contacts 
with nations in Africa, Latin America, and Asia in the 1960’s and 
1970’s. As a result, Soviet material aid and military and technical 
personnel were sent to many areas of the world which had never 
before seen Soviet presence. 
Both the assertion of global aspirations and the implementing actions 
were a clear reversal of Stalin’s conservative foreign policy. With 
*Ibid., p. 39. 
*L. I. Brezhnev, ‘““O Vneshnei Politike KPSS i Sovetsogo Gosudarstva” (On Foreign Policy of 
CPSU and Soviet State), Political Literature Publishing House, Moscow, 1973, p. 376. 
4A. A. Grechko, “‘Vooruzhenniye Sily Sovetskogo Gosudarstva” (Armed Forces of the Soviet 
State), Military Publishing House, Moscow, 1975, p. 96. 
°““Boevoi Put’ Sovetskogo Voennomorskogo Flota” (The Fighting Path of the Soviet Navy), Milita- 
ry Publishing House, Moscow, 1974, pp. 5-6. To further underscore the change, this work, in tracing 
the transformation of the Soviet fleet from a defensive to an offensive arm of the U.S.S.R., notes that 
for the first time in its history, the fleet has long range, strategic capabilities which can fundamentally 
affect the outcome on oceanic and continental war fronts. 
