International Cooperation of the Central Spiritual Administration of Buddhists of the USSR in the Second Half of the 1960s

Based on the materials of the State Archive of the Russian Federation and the State Archive of the Republic of Buryatia, the article analyzes the main forms of interaction between representatives of the Central Committee of the USSR in the international field. The authors noted that all the foreign policy activities of Soviet Buddhists were controlled by state and party bodies, which perceived it as a “soft power” in relations with the countries of Southeast Asia. An important part of this integration was the participation of members of the Central Committee of the USSR in various conferences, congresses and membership in non-governmental organizations, the main purpose of which was to maintain pacifism in the world, to prevent military clashes, as well as discrimination. Despite this, by the end of the 1960s, a number of contradictions between the countries of the capitalist and socialist bloc began to accumulate in international organizations. All this resulted in the creation of the Asian Buddhist Conference for Peace, whose representatives were countries oriented towards a socialist system. At the same time, it is concluded that active diplomatic activity influenced religious policy towards Buddhism in the USSR. The visits of foreign leaders to the Soviet Union were the reason for more mass visits to the datsans by believers, which contradicted the atheistic course of the USSR. For this reason, the Soviet leadership had to make certain concessions for the Buddhist religion on its territory in order to maintain active foreign policy contacts.