BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//pretalx//pretalx.com//wha-annual-meeting-korea-2026//talk//KLSDWF
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:KST
BEGIN:STANDARD
DTSTART:20000101T000000
RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=1
TZNAME:KST
TZOFFSETFROM:+0900
TZOFFSETTO:+0900
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:pretalx-wha-annual-meeting-korea-2026-KLSDWF@pretalx.com
DTSTART;TZID=KST:20260627T154000
DTEND;TZID=KST:20260627T160000
DESCRIPTION:The USSR was one of the founders of the United Nations\, yet it
 s participation in UN agencies and other Western based international organ
 izations was neither straightforward nor consistent. The Soviet Red Cross 
 oversaw vast territories after WWII including Eastern Germany\, Eastern Eu
 rope\, parts of Iran\, Northeast China\, and North Korea\, with access to 
 prisoners of war from across Europe and Asia. In 1946 the Soviets were ele
 cted to the executive board of the International League of Red Cross Socie
 ties\, followed by membership in the Standing Commission of the Internatio
 nal Red Cross in 1952. By the late 1950s the USSR had also joined UNESCO a
 nd WHO\, though this policy had certain limits. Although a founding countr
 y of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)\, the USSR never formally
  joined it.\nThis paper draws on previously unexamined reports of the firs
 t Soviet representative at the International Red Cross – Nikolay Tchikal
 enko\, the League’s undersecretary who lived and worked in Geneva from 1
 962 to 1965\, as well as FAO archival documents on failed negotiations wit
 h Moscow in 1968. Tchikalenko’s reports reveal Soviet mistrust of “Int
 ernational Geneva\,” perceived as infiltrated by American intelligence a
 gents. At the same time\, Moscow saw opportunities to advance foreign poli
 cy goals by engaging representatives of the decolonized world\, while West
 ern actors sought Soviet participation to legitimize new development progr
 ams in Africa and Asia as approved by the Socialist world.\nFAO\, one of t
 he UN’s most important organizations in the fight against hunger\, embod
 ied goals consistent with socialist values. Yet the Soviets rejected FAO
 ’s support for landowning farmers as incompatible with socialist princip
 les of public land ownership. In 1968 FAO president Boerma travelled to Mo
 scow and Leningrad to secure Soviet membership\, and the deal seemed nearl
 y complete. Ultimately\, however\, the Soviet Foreign Ministry decided aga
 inst joining.
DTSTAMP:20260412T140053Z
LOCATION:Room 201 (Seats 42)
SUMMARY:“Bunch of Seasoned Intelligence Operatives and Spies:” Soviets
 ’ Ambivalent View of International Organizations – the League of Red C
 ross and FAO in the 1960s - Severyan Dyakonov
URL:https://pretalx.com/wha-annual-meeting-korea-2026/talk/KLSDWF/
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR