All five leaders believed that developing countries should not help either the Western or Eastern blocs in the Cold War.

The disparity is significant, diplomats said, because talks between the Western and Eastern military blocs cannot formally conclude until the humanitarian issues have been resolved.

Unlike prior, shorter-term blocs, the Western and Soviet bloc's sought to spread their national ideological differences to other nations.

According to the compromise, separate arms talks involving the 23 nations in the Western and Eastern blocs would be conducted.

At the same time, the country maintained relatively close informal connections with the Western bloc, especially in the realm of intelligence exchange.

Although controversial, his policy of neutrality allowed trade with both the Communist and Western blocs.

But 44 nations abstained, including the whole of the Western bloc except the United States and Israel, which voted against.

He is also known for having hotly rejected some of the then-new ideas of adhesion as presented by the Western bloc in the 1970s.

Young Soviet citizens could not match the technological "savvy" of their counterparts in the Western bloc nations.

We are with the Western bloc.