Sverdlovsk Oblast in the diplomatic history of the USSR: visits of top officials of foreign countries to the region (1955–1965)

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of increasing the regions’ role in international and foreign economic cooperation of the Soviet Union in 1955–65. The aim of the research is to study the dynamics of the visits of foreign countries’ leaders to Sverdlovsk Oblast, which was traditionally considered as “closed.” Based on the results of the study, the stages of diplomatic activity in the region are identified. It was found that 1955–59 and 1963–65, when 18 visits of leaders of capitalist, socialist and developing countries to Sverdlovsk Oblast were organized and held, were the most eventful periods in this regard. The programs of the visits to the territory of the oblast were analyzed. Based on the results of the analysis, the average length of stay in Sverdlovsk Oblast, the preferred period for a trip to the Middle Urals, and general principles and features of organizing the reception of eminent guests in Sverdlovsk Oblast were determined. It was revealed that the Sverdlovsk Oblast Committee of the CPSU approved a list of 64 institutions which were recommended for foreign delegations to visit. The article highlights the key objects and facilities that were shown to foreign guests. It was found that the main point of the program of almost all delegations was a visit to Uralmash. Foreign guests also visited other industrial enterprises, including those which were located within the 40–50 km radius of the administrative center of the region, the city of Sverdlovsk. The article reveals the importance of the role assigned to the cultural program (visiting the Geological Museum and theaters). Sojourn in Sverdlovsk Oblast allowed eminent guests to see the potential of one of the country’s industrial centers in person and facilitated placing orders in the oblast for the needs of the economy of foreign countries. In addition, an ideological task was solved: the peaceful stance of the Soviet Union which possessed powerful defense potential was demonstrated to the guests. The author concludes that the involvement of the USSR’s regions in the processes of international cooperation was effective. At the same time, the adjustment of the country’s foreign policy in the mid-1960s was marked by a trend towards a decrease in the number of trips of foreign countries’ top officials to the regions of the USSR, including Sverdlovsk Oblast, within the framework of official and working visits. © Beklenishcheva M., 2021.