"Interrogator: Do you believe that the imperialist states and their agencies are not interested in weakening and undermining the Soviet regime but in strengthening it? Is that how we must interpret you? Yuri Orlov: As is well known, my documents have been used in the West by those progressive forces whose criticism has clearly improved certain aspects of human rights in the Soviet Union. I have in mind statements by communists in France, Italy, and [other countries]. . . . One must bear in mind that even criticism from hostile forces can be useful for a regime. For example, criticism of capitalism by the Soviet Union has undoubtedly strengthened that system and prolonged its existence. However, I did not appeal to hostile forces [in the West], but either to the international public as a whole, or to left-wingers, including communists. . . . " - Interrogation record of Soviet physicist and dissident Yuri Orlov, accused of supplying documents to Western human rights’ groups, conducted by the KGB, December 29, 1977.
The interrogator’s reference to "imperialist states" is best understood in the context of
which of the following?
(A) Decolonization following the conclusion of the Second World War
(B) The distribution of German colonies to Britain and France through the mandate
system
(C) The emergence of fascist states in Western Europe
(D) Ideological conflicts associated with the Cold War