The pact built on earlier economic relations (traditionally strong between the countries), seeking to ensure security in the Balkans, and for a time, mutual suspicion of German intentions.

[1] The ideological conflict between Italian Fascism and Soviet Bolshevism was largely considered as an internal matter, and relations were built up nevertheless.

[citation needed] Reports in the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union were keen to stress the military aspect of this.

"[1] Potemkin sent an invite to the Undersecretary of State, Fulvio Suvich, for an Italian mission to visit the Soviet Union in return.

In the aftermath of these exchanges, Mussolini mobilised Italian troops in the summer of 1934 and had them placed on the Brenner Pass, aiming to ensure Austrian independence against the July Putsch.

Second, Italy promptly responded to requests by the Republic of Finland for military assistance and equipment for use against the Soviet government during the Winter War.

In October 1933, Potemkin warned Suvich that Germany would seek an agreement with Japan, another country perceived as a threat to both Soviet and Italian interests.

Mussolini added that the international community did not have enough determination to stop Japan and the militaristic mentality of its ruling elite and praised Stalin's USSR for its firmness against the Japanese.

[citation needed] Italy finally tore up the pact on 22 June 1941, when it joined the other European Axis Powers to launch a surprise invasion of the Soviet Union.