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"distracted" by the "false thesis about the hegemonism of the super powers and deliberations about applying the same assessments to the policies of the USA and the USSR". Nor was it right to maintain that "the great powers" are not concerned about the national security of the non-aligned, or were seeking to strengthen their influence in the Indian Ocean. The non-aligned should distinguish between "socialism" and "imperialism". Chinese accusations that the Russians did not want the non-aligned movement to become an independent political force and that Moscow was arrogant about its relations with the USA were answered with angry rebuttals in Moscow's overseas broadcasts, including the interesting assertion on 17 August that "The USSR never regards Soviet-US relations as a factor in determin- ing the development of the world. This is a lie fabricated by the Chinese leaders Deeply rooted social causes determine the development of society ......'
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6. On other points of detail, the Russians may not have been happy with the formulae in the Resolution on great power rivalry in the Indian Ocean, although Gromyko took pains to emphasise in his speech at the UN General Assembly that the Third World's demands for a "zone of peace" are reasonable. That there was no reference in the discussions to Asian security themes may have disappointed the Russians but should not have surprised them in view of the known reluctance of almost all Asian countries to endorse Moscow's proposals on the subject even in bilateral dealings with the Soviet Union. The Russians have diluted their reference to the desirability of an Asian security system during the 25th Congress of the CPSU in Moscow in February, and may have hoped that more cautious approach would elicit a more forthcoming reaction at least from one or two Asian states. The importance of the Asian security theme to the Russians lies less in the need to work out concrete measures or to hold Conferences, than in its use as a means of asserting the USSR's role as an Asian as well as a European power, of enhancing the Soviet Union's "peace-loving" image, establishing a basis for the exercise of influence in Asian capitals, and of counteracting Chinese influence. The resounding silence on the theme at Colombo leaves little doubt that the Asian countries themselves remain wary of it, and this will not help the Russians breathe more life into this essentially propagandistic theme in the foreseeable future.
7.
In short, the Russians doubtless welcomed the way political matters came to the fore at the Conference, despite the prior intentions of many of the non-aligned to concentrate more on economic issues. There was sufficient in the Political Declaration to satisfy their hopes for "anti-colonialist" sentiment although they have admitted privately that the Political Declaration fell short of their hopes in a number of respects. They undoubtedly welcomed the explicit criticism of Western powers. But they seemed impatient with the inability of some of the non-aligned to distinguish clearly between the merits or otherwise of the developed West and the developed East, and with the failure of the final documents to endorse the "alliance" between communism and non-alignment. On the whole the Soviet attitude to the Conference may in retrospect help to highlight Soviet ideological propaganda, and to underline its irrelevance to the major economic issues confronting the Third World.
CONFIDENTIAL
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