CONFIDENTIAL
economic discussions, whether at specially convened conferences such as the CIEC, or within the framework of existing multilateral agencies. But the Russians have evidently not yet decided how or whether they can reconcile their current very restrictive financial and trading practices with increasing demands from the Third World for a more open and helpful attitude. They therefore still resort to the familiar defensive ideological justification for refusing to play a constructive role namely that the Soviet Union does not bear any responsibility for helping the developing countries because their difficulties stem from the legacy of colonialism and current "neo-colonialist" practices. But they seem equally conscious that this tired formula is seen as increasingly irrelevant to current vital issues by parts of the Third World. The tendency in the Soviet press has therefore been defensively to stress the contribution of Soviet aid to building up the industrial base of developing countries, while treating of intemational economic discussions in broad, propagandistic terms.
4.
So far as the Non-aligned Conference is concerned, Brezhnev's message to the Sri Lankan Prime Minister as Conference Chairman on 16 August made only a brief and vague allusion to the Soviet Union's "all round assistance" for the developing countries' "economic and social progress" and waxed eloquent instead of détente and "anti-colonialist" themes. Soviet comment after the Conference expressed displeasure at the tendency on the part of some delegates to place responsibility for the difficulties of Third World countries equally on the "capitalist" and "socialist" countries. They will have taken comfort from the fact that the Economic Declaration does not single out the Socialist countries for criticism on aid policies, but the failure to distinguish between the socialist countries and the developed West on general questions of economic restructuring cannot have pleased them. They have stressed that the Economic Declaration should be regarded as an "indictment of the economic vices of imperialism". They may well be more sensitive on these issues with the approach of the October meeting of the UNCTAD Trade and Development Board, where a special sub- committee is to be established at the request of the developing countries to examine in depth the whole question of trade and aid relations between the socialist countries and the developing world.
-
5. On general political themes - given much greater attention in Soviet press coverage of the Conference the Russians have emphasised an alleged natural alliance between the socialist and non-aligned countries and implied that the non-aligned movement would do well to beware of insincerity in the West about détente. Brezhnev's message on 16 August attached pride of place - even before references to anti-imperialism to the "growing activity of the forces of reaction and militarism" in the West, who would like to "turn the world back to the times of the cold war ..... The enemies of detente are fanning the fires ..... and even strengthening the arms race". The Soviet press reacted with sensitivity to suggestions made by some delegates at the Conference that the Third World should consider its policy towards the developed world as a whole and minimise distinctions between East and West. "Some of the speeches contained strange and even false notes" Pravda commented on 19 August. Delegates were being
/distracted"
CONFIDENTIAL