ИСТИНА

At the May 1972 summit in Moscow Leonid Brezhnev and Richard Nixon signed agreements to establish the technological, commercial, and diplomatic framework for the policy of détente, including the creation of a Joint Committee on Environment Protection. Some forty cooperative scientific projects were established. Joint teams of scientists investigated seismic activity beneath the Nurek Reservoir in the Tadzhik SSR. Three clusters of earthquakes were found, one directly beneath the reservoir. In 1976 Soviet and US scientists analyzed precursor radon anomalies recorded during the May 1976 earthquake in the Gazli area of Uzbekistan. In June 1976 experts met in Leningrad to discuss the growing concern that manmade pollutants can alter the national condition of the stratosphere and thus produce adverse changes of the earth’s climate. “A highly successful” exhibit –seminar Clean Air-76 was held in Moscow during February 1976. In November 1976, both sides signed a Convention concerning the conservation of migratory birds and their environment. For the first time, both sides exchanged delegations of experts to study the planning and construction of pipelines in the permafrost areas of Alaska and Siberia as well as related measures to minimize environmental damage to northern ecosystems. The scientists met annually under these bilateral agreements until the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The relationship revived in 1984, and two years later officials from both sides agreed to broaden cooperation on environmental issues over the following five years.