Documents of the Central Archives of the Russian Federation on Soviet-Italian Cultural Contacts During the "Khrushchev Thaw" (1953-1964)

The cultural ties between the Soviet Union and Italy during the Cold War were strongly influenced by political factors, as the cultural interaction between the states-members of the opposing military-political blocs was associated with the concept of "soft power" and was used as one of the means of foreign policy propaganda. Accordingly, the coordination of Soviet-Italian cultural relations was carried out by state and party authorities, responsible not only for the cultural sphere, but also for foreign policy propaganda, as well as for the development of the state foreign policy as a whole, since these directions were practically inseparable from each other. The article gives a brief overview of the archival funds of state and party bodies of the USSR, as well as public organizations that carried out cultural relations with foreign countries, in particular, Italy.