Sadykova V. British-Soviet Relations (1979-1991).

The author managed to define features of military and political relations between Great Britain and the Soviet Union in the context of growing geopolitical tension in the world, caused by expansion of the Second Cold War in the late 1970s and the early 1980's; confrontation between the member states of NATO and the Warsaw Treaty Organization (WTO); aggressive Soviet policy towards Afghanistan and Poland and as a result the 'boycott' of the Moscow Olympic games in 1980 by Great Britain; and disintegration of the Soviet Union. The paper analyzes the most controversial issues of relations between Great Britain and the Soviet Union, including position of Great Britain and the Soviet Union concerning the US Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI); difference in the approaches of the British-Soviet political elite to the issue of reduction and elimination of nuclear arsenals; issues of military balance and strategic parity between NATO and WTO; the impact of the accident at Chernobyl (Ukrainian SSR) in 1986 on British agriculture and the food industry; negative perception Soviet doctrine of "world domination communism" by the leadership of Great Britain. Attention is drawn to the successful impact of personal factor, such as constructive 'exceptional' relationship between M.Thatcher, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and M.Gorbachov, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the President of the Soviet Union since March 1990.