ABSTRACT
In August 1945, the Red Army invaded Manchukuo and soon won a victory that helped to bring the Second World War to its end. The Korean War in 1950 persuaded Stalin that the time had come for the Soviet Union to leave Manchuria.
In 1956, US Intelligence Unit suggested: ‘Traditional Sino-Russian territorial rivalries along their 1,400-mile common border are a potential source of friction between the Allies.’ However, while the Soviet leadership had taken steps to reduce Chinese Communist sensitivity in the border areas, economic relations were another cause of friction.
By this time, there was already a hint of the split between the USSR and the PRC that was to become more open by 1961 and to lead to an acrid dispute over the possession of Damansky Island in the Ussuri River in 1969.
