Treaty of Moscow (1970)

The Treaty of Moscow was signed on 12 August 1970 between the Soviet Union and West Germany. It was signed by Willy Brandt and Walter Scheel for West Germany's side and by Alexei Kosygin and Andrei Gromyko for the Soviet Union.

Treaty of Moscow
TypeBilateral treaty
Signed12 August 1970 (1970-08-12)
LocationMoscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Original
signatories
Soviet Union
West Germany
RatifiersSoviet Union
West Germany

Description

In the 1970s, West German Chancellor Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik was a policy that "abandoned, at least for the time being, its claims with respect to German self-determination and reunification, recognising de facto the existence of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Oder–Neisse line".[1]

Both sides expressed their ambition to strive for a normalisation of the relations between the European states while they kept international peace and to follow the guidelines of the Article 2 of the UN Charter.

The signees renounced the use of force and recognised the postwar borders, specifically, the Oder–Neisse line, which hived off a large portion of historical eastern Germany to Poland and the Soviet Union.

It also enshrined the division between East Germany and West Germany, thus contributing a valuable element of stability into the relationship between the two countries.

See also

References

Further reading

  • Notes of reply from the three Western Powers (11 August 1970) retrieved from the CVCE website.
  • Pierre, Andrew J. The Bonn-Moscow Treaty of 1970: Milestone or Mirage? Russian Review, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Jan., 1971), pp. 17–26
  • Фалин В. М. Без скидок на обстоятельства: Политические воспоминания. — М.: Республика: Современник, 1999. — 463 с.: ил. ISBN 5-250-02673-7

Footnotes

  1. The Federal Republic of Germany's Ostpolitik on CVCE website (Centre for European Studies).
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