From the First to the Second UN Geneva Conference on the Law of the Sea: the Evolution of the Soviet Position

The end of the 1950s, when the First and Second UN Conferences on the Law of the Sea were held in Geneva, was a time of ‘early detente’ in relations between East and West and, at the same time, a period when the process of decolonization was developing and the number of independent states, which later became known as the ‘third world’, was increasing. An important issue that neither the First nor the Second Geneva Conferences were able to resolve was the question of the breadth of the territorial sea. On this issue, the USSR and the USA held opposite positions. At the same time, the balance of power in the UN was clearly not in favor of the USSR, since the socialist countries were in a clear minority. However, during this period, the USSR actively established relations with many developing countries, and Soviet proposals on the question of the width of the territorial sea could count on the support of many developing countries. The article, based on the documents of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU, examines the change in the Soviet position following the results of the First UN Conference on the Law of the Sea, during which the Soviet proposal on the question of the breadth of the territorial sea received clearly little support.