Vanuatu, which became independent from France and the United Kingdom in 1980, was led by Prime Minister Father Walter Lini, founder of the doctrine of Melanesian socialism, from 1980 to 1991.
His government was the only one in Oceania at the time which refused to align with the Western bloc during the dying stages of the Cold War.
Lini sought to maintain cordial, though not particularly close, relations with the Soviet Union.
The agreement lapsed the following year and was not renewed, due to disagreements over the price to be paid for fishing rights by the USSR.
The year 1991 was marked both by the end of Lini's last term in office and by the collapse of the Soviet Union.