ABSTRACT
The Soviet public diplomacy effort has been significantly revitalized under General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. The role of nuclear weapons has been of particular importance, as seen in the emphasis the Soviets have placed on developing a “third-zero” option in nuclear weapons and on the ultimate denuclearization of Europe. The concept of establishing a nuclear-free zone to encompass the countries of Northern Europe has existed in the form of various initiatives for more than two decades but has yet to yield any substantive results. The Soviet Union has consistently supported the notion of a nuclear-free zone in Northern Europe and did, in fact, informally suggest such an idea back in the late 1950s. During the 1980s, some of the North European countries themselves took initiatives to promote the nuclear-free-zone concept.
