During the relatively short period of the Big Five's existence--22
years--the arms control and disarmament decision-making
mechanism in the Soviet Union underwent considerable
development. Following its birth at the end of the 1960s, the
Big Five became stronger and gained great experience during
1970s. In the first half of the 1980s, it was under fire because of
serious crises, and it managed to recover only during the
Gorbachev era. Ironically, its existence came to an end at a time
when its mechanism had reached a qualitatively new level of
development and displayed great potential for further progress.

Throughout the period of the Big Five's existence,
Soviet approaches and, indeed, the very thinking of the nation's
leadership on the aims and goals of arms control negotiations
changed dramatically. The mechanism created at that time
played a very important role in this process and demonstrated its
vitality and importance to preserving state interests. The Big
Five's contribution proved to be very efficient during a time
when it was necessary to change the world outlook and
philosophy of thinking, as well as traditional views on national
security problems. In the course of this difficult process, the
initial concept of obtaining strategic superiority through
international arms control agreements was gradually

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