The main reason why a severe downturn in oil prices during the early '80s was detrimental to the Soviet economy is because Russia was one of the world's leading exporters of oil in the world--meaning that when prices dropped, so did their GDP.
Answer: The United States and 11 other Western nations founded the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949 in response to the threat of potential Communist expansion. (\sNATO). The Warsaw Pact, a rival organization, was founded in 1955 by the Soviet Union and its communist allies in Eastern Europe.