Tuhia he tomokanga mō tēnei wāhanga - I whakaaetia ia kia haere ki ngā whenua o te Eastern Bloc, i te tau 1966 ko ia tētahi o tētahi rōpū i haere ki Tiamana ki te Rāwhiti, ā, i te tau 1969 me te tau 1974 i haere ki Bulgaria. I te marama o Akuhata 1968 i arahi te Soviet Union i tētahi whakaekenga
I te mutunga o te marama o Prague, he wa o te whakakorenga 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.