On the issue of war and peace, the Soviet government took important initiatives. It concluded bilateral nonaggression treaties with a number of states. Even though it had not been invited by the Western powers to participate in the drafting of a treaty outlawing war, it took the opportunity, once the treaty was finalized, to ratify it. In the Pact of Paris, also called the Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928), states declared “that they condemn recourse to war for the solution of international controversies, and renounce it as an instrument of national policy in their relations with one another.”

The Pact of Paris was to enter into force only after being ratified by the states that participated in the drafting. The Soviet government went one step further, organizing a group of Eastern European states to put the Pact of Paris into effect apart from ratification by the drafting states. Under the protocol, the Pact of Paris became binding immediately on states ratifying the protocol and would remain binding on them even if the Pact of Paris were not to gain enough ratifications to enter into force. The Soviet government ratified the protocol and secured ratification by Latvia, Estonia, Poland, and Romania.

The Soviet government then initiated the conclusion of two treaties, also involving Eastern European states, to define aggression. The Pact of Paris had made no effort to define aggression.