CPSU Central Committee calls for economic acceleration

The USSR cited security concerns and alleged anti-Soviet hostility as reasons for non-participation. The boycott was retaliatory in the context of the 1980 Moscow boycott and again made athletes carry...

The Reagan administration proposed meetings in September to discuss resuming negotiations on strategic and intermediate-range nuclear weapons and antisatellite arms. The proposal came after years of...

The Games proceeded amid a Soviet-led boycott by the USSR and several aligned states. Athletes who were absent lost an opportunity to compete, while hosts and organizers framed the event as a...

Chernenko’s death ended another brief leadership tenure and accelerated a generational transition at the top of the CPSU. The Soviet Union faced stagnation, a costly Afghan war, and loss of confidence...

The Central Committee chose Gorbachev, the youngest Soviet leader in decades. He inherited an empire-wide system marked by economic problems, national inequalities, restricted public debate, and a war...

The USSR began a unilateral moratorium on nuclear explosions, timed to the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing and initially set through January 1, 1986. The pledge made Kazakhstan’s test-site...

The leaders met for the first time at the Geneva Summit. Their talks began a new phase of direct engagement, but the encounter remained a negotiation between nuclear superpowers whose decisions...

Reagan and Gorbachev issued a joint statement affirming that nuclear war could not be won and must never be fought, while agreeing to continue talks. The declaration mattered as a diplomatic signal...

The Soviet leader proposed eliminating nuclear weapons worldwide by 2000. The plan was a diplomatic initiative by a nuclear superpower and an appeal to reduce the danger its own arsenal helped create.

The congress endorsed perestroika and called for economic acceleration while preserving the party’s leading role. Public promises of renewal confronted entrenched centralized authority and the Union’s...