Karate appeared in the Soviet Union in the mid-1960s, during Nikita Khrushchev's policy of improved international relations.The first Shotokan clubs were opened in Moscow's universities.
In 1973, however, the government banned karate—together with all other foreign martial arts—endorsing only the Soviet martial art of sambo.
Failing to suppress these uncontrolled groups, the USSR's Sport Committee formed the Karate Federation of USSR in December 1978.
