One of the immediate effects of the rise of Hitler in Germany was reapproachment between Soviet Union and France. They concluded a trade agreement for one year in 1934. This was followed by a five-year pact of mutual assistance between the two. Russia also concluded similar pact with Czecholovakia. France and Soviet Union also decided to co-operate in organizing defence against German aggression.
In the Baltic littoral, the Soviet Union concluded non-aggression pacts with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to meet the growing danger of Pan-German expansion. Soviet Union also signed non-aggression pacts with countries like Afghanistan, Persia, Rumania, Tuikey, Yogoslavia etc.
In 1934 Russia along with France, concluded the Eastern Pact of Mutual Assistance. The Pact covered countries like Poland, Russia, Germany, Czecholovakia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithunia. The chief provision of the pact was that in the event of crisis the member states were to hold joint consultations and render immediate military assistance to the country attacked by one or more contracting parties.
In addition to this pact, Russia and France concluded another treaty by which they assumed same obligations as devolved on England and Italy as guarantors of the Rhine Pact of 1925. According to Carr, “The plan seemed somewhat artificial; for it was difficult to imagine any circumstances in which Germany would obtain the help of France against the Soviet Union or of the Soviet Union against France”.