context: Sassou Nguesso aligned the country with the Eastern Bloc and signed a twenty-year friendship pact with the Soviet Union. Over the years, Sassou had to rely more on political repression and less on patronage to maintain his dictatorship.
question: ఈస్టర్న్ బ్లాక్ ఏ దేశంతో ఒప్పందం కుదుర్చుకుంది?
answers: the Soviet Union