Whakakiia te rerenga e whai ake nei: I whakaaetia ia ki te haere ki nga whenua o te Eastern Bloc, i te tau 1966 ko ia tetahi o nga roopu i toro atu ki te Rāwhiti o Tiamana, a i te 1969 me te 1974 i toro atu ia ki Bulgaria. I te marama o Akuhata 1968
I ārahi te Soviet Union i tētahi whakaekenga o Czechoslovakia ki te whakamutu i te Prague Spring, he wā o te whakawāteatanga tōrangapū i roto i te whenua Marxist-Leninist. Ahakoa i kii a Gorbachev i muri mai he awangawanga a ia mo te whakaekenga, i tautokohia e ia. I te marama o Hepetema 1969 ko ia tetahi o nga roopu Soviet i tukuna ki Czechoslovakia, i reira i kitea ai e ia te iwi Czechoslovak kaore i manakohia ki a raatau. I taua tau, i whakahaua ia e nga mana Soviet ki te whiu i a Fagien B. Sadykov, he tohunga ahuwhenua i Stavropol, ko ana whakaaro i kiia he whakahe mo te kaupapa ahuwhenua a Soviet; I whakarite a Gorbachev kia peia a Sadykov mai i te whakaako engari kaore i aro ki nga karanga kia kaha ake tana whiu. I muri mai ka korero a Gorbachev i te mea "i tino pa ki a ia" na te kaupapa; "I whiua ahau e taku hinengaro" mo te tirotiro i te whakatoi a Sadykov.