Furthermore, the USSR felt more competent when, in 1961, Yuri Gagarin (Russian cosmonaut) became the first man in space to oppose in United States Chess. The reason these tensions increased was because Russia now felt it had the capabilities to beat the United States in competition, which prompted them to invest more in nuclear weapons, which considerably increased tensions. Nonetheless, the withdrawal of Jupiter ballistic missiles from Turkey and Italy, following the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis Accords, represented the way leaders were able to negotiate and end a nuclear war, claiming as well as the nuclear arms race had ultimately increased tensions in the country. point that the leaders backed down. Even though the Cuban Missile Crisis agreements appeared to be a massive failure for Khrushchev, he had eased pressure on a possible US blitzkrieg. If the focus was on the nuclear arms race, tensions would obviously increase because both countries knew what a nuclear war was..