Editing Belgrade declaration

{{Short description|Declaration of relations between USSR and Yugoslavia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox treaty
| name                    = Belgrade declaration
| long_name               =
| image                   = Russische bezetters Joegoslavie, Bestanddeelnr 907-1635.jpg
| image_size              = <!-- 200px -->
| alt                     = 
| caption                 = [[Nikita Khrushchev]], [[Josip Broz Tito]] and [[Nikolai Bulganin]] in Belgrade, 30 May 1955 
| type                    = Declaration
| context                 = Post-Stalinist normalization of relations between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union
| date_drafted            =
| date_signed             = {{Start date|1955|06|02|df=y}}
| location_signed         =
| date_sealed             =
| date_ratified           = <!-- If 3 or more, type 'Multiple dates' linking to a section or footnote -->
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| amendment               =
| date_expiration         = <!-- {{End date|YYYY|MM|DD}} OR: -->
| date_expiry             = <!-- {{End date|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
| provisional_application = 
| mediators               = <!-- format this as a bullet list -->
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| original_signatories    = <!-- format this as a bullet list -->
| signatories             = 
*{{flagdeco|Soviet Union}} [[Nikita Khrushchev]]
{{flagdeco|Yugoslavia}} [[Josip Broz Tito]]
| parties                 = 
*{{flag|Soviet Union}}
*{{flag|Yugoslavia}}
| ratifiers               = <!-- format this as a bullet list -->
| depositor               = <!-- OR: -->
| depositories            = <!-- format this as a bullet list -->
| citations               = <!-- format as XX [[Article on Treaty Series|TS]] YYY -->
| language                = <!-- OR: -->
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}}

The '''Belgrade declaration''' ({{langx|ru|Белградская декларация}}, {{lang-sh-Latn-Cyrl|Beogradska deklaracija|Београдска декларација}}, {{langx|sl|Beograjska deklaracija}}, {{langx|mk|Белградска декларација}}) is a document signed by [[President of Yugoslavia]] [[Josip Broz Tito]] and Soviet leader [[Nikita Khrushchev]] on 2 June 1955 that brought about a short reconciliation between the two states.<ref>{{cite web|title=The signing ceremony of the Belgrade Declaration, Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 2 July 1955. Artist: Anon|url=https://www.heritage-images.com/preview/2379125|website=Heritage Images|access-date=26 August 2021}}</ref><ref name="Zarkovic">{{cite web|last=Žarković|first=Petar|title=Yugoslavia and the USSR 1945 - 1980: The History of a Cold War Relationship|url=https://yuhistorija.com/int_relations_txt01c1.html |publisher=YU historija|access-date=26 August 2021}}</ref><ref name="Edemskiy">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Edemskiy|first=A. B.|title=БЕЛГРА́ДСКАЯ ДЕКЛАРА́ЦИЯ 1955|url=https://bigenc.ru/domestic_history/text/1853529|encyclopedia=[[Great Russian Encyclopedia]]|language=ru|access-date=27 August 2021|archive-date=27 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210827090140/https://bigenc.ru/domestic_history/text/1853529|url-status=dead}}</ref> Negotiations leading up to the signing of the document took place between 27 May and 2 June.<ref name="Edemskiy" />

The declaration guaranteed noninterference in Yugoslavia's internal affairs and legitimized the right to interpret other forms of socialist development in different countries.<ref>{{cite web|last=Lazić|first=Milorad|date=4 December 2017|title=The Soviet Intervention that Never Happened|url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/the-soviet-intervention-never-happened|publisher=[[Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars]]|access-date=26 August 2021}}</ref> While the declaration failed in achieving lasting [[rapprochement]] between the two countries (a result of Yugoslav anxiety over the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956]]) it had an effect on Yugoslav disengagement from the [[Balkan Pact (1953)|Balkan Pact]] with the [[NATO]] member states of [[Turkey]] and [[Greece]].<ref name="Zarkovic" /> The document was a cornerstone for the relations between the two countries for the following 35 years.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Goldstein|first1=Ivo |author-link1=Ivo Goldstein |last2=Goldstein|first2=Slavko |author-link2=Slavko Goldstein |year=2020 |title=Tito|language=hr |location=Zagreb|publisher=Profil |page=558 |isbn=978-953-313-750-6}}</ref>

==Background==

After [[Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin|Stalin's death]] in 1953, Tito had to choose between a more Western approach to reforms or an agreement with new Soviet leader [[Nikita Khrushchev]]. The two countries formally reestablished diplomatic relations with Soviet ambassador [[Vasily Valkov]] arriving to Belgrade on 30 July and Yugoslav ambassador Dobrivoje Vidić arriving to Moscow on 30 September 1953 under the leadership of [[Georgy Malenkov]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Osmanagić |first=Danijel |date=17 May 2020 |title=Beograjska deklaracija, eden največjih Titovih političnih uspehov |url=https://zgodovinanadlani.si/beograjska-deklaracija-eden-najvecjih-titovih-politicnih-uspehov/ |website=Zgodovina na dlani |language=sl |access-date=27 August 2021}}</ref> This, however, did not automatically lead to normalization between the two ruling parties. The [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] and the [[League of Communists of Yugoslavia]] exchanged letters in late 1955.<ref name="Edemskiy" />

Tito tried to reconcile with the Soviet Union, inviting Khrushchev to [[Belgrade]] in 1955. The Khrushchev trip to Belgrade is sometimes colloquially known as the "Soviet [[Canossa]]".<ref>{{cite book |last=Jakovina |first=Tvrtko |author-link=Tvrtko Jakovina |year=2020 |title=Budimir Lončar: Od Preka do vrha svijeta |trans-title=Budimir Lončar: From Preko to the Top of the World |url=https://fraktura.hr/budimir-loncar.html |language=hr |location=[[Zaprešić]], Croatia |publisher=Fraktura |page=292 |isbn=978-953-358-239-9}}</ref>

This meeting resulted in the Belgrade declaration ending the [[Informbiro period]], granting other socialist countries the right to interpret [[Marxism]] in a different way, and ensured  more equal relationships amongst all [[satellite state]]s and the Soviet Union. But the limits of this agreement became evident after the [[Soviet invasion of Hungary|Soviet intervention]] in [[Hungarian People's Republic|Hungary]] in October 1956; this was followed by a new Soviet campaign against Tito, which held the Yugoslav government responsible for the Hungarian insurrection. Soviet–Yugoslav relationships went through similar cool periods in the 1960s (after the violent ending of the [[Prague Spring]] and the subsequent [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia]]) and thereafter.<ref>{{cite book|last=Holt|first=Robert T.|year=1958|title=Radio Free Europe|location=Minneapolis|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|page=163|isbn=0-8166-0160-7}}</ref> Yugoslavia, however, became an associated member of the [[Comecon]] in 1964 after an agreement was reached with the Soviet leadership.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Thomas |first=C. J. |date=November 1976 |journal=[[The Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa]] |volume=9 |number=3 |page=330 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23905548 |title=The Comecon: catalyst for economic cooperation in Eastern Europe |jstor=23905548 |access-date=6 July 2023}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Foreign relations of Yugoslavia}}
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[[Category:1950s in Belgrade]]
[[Category:1955 documents]]
[[Category:1955 in international relations]]
[[Category:1955 in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:1955 in Yugoslavia]]
[[Category:June 1955 in Europe]]
[[Category:Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]]
[[Category:Soviet Union–Yugoslavia relations]]