ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the evolution of military relations between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and developing countries and assess the role that military assistance plays in overall Soviet policy. One of the most important changes in Soviet policy toward the Third World during the past decade has been the increasing emphasis on the expansion of military relations between the Soviet Union and individual developing states. By the 1970s the Soviets were able to employ their newly developed military power, including an oceangoing fleet and long-range transport aircraft, in conjunction with access to port and air facilities, to support distant and scattered political and strategic goals. As Soviet goals in the Third World included the cultivation of the goodwill of developing countries, Third World leaders could no longer be depicted as reactionaries who should be swept away by the tide of revolution.
