Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - An yarda da shi don tafiya zuwa ƙasashen Gabashin Gabas, a 1966 ya kasance wani ɓangare na tawagar da ke ziyartar Gabashin Jamus, kuma a 1969 da 1974 ya ziyarci Bulgaria. A watan Agusta na 1968 Soviet Union ta jagoranci mamayewa
na Czechoslovakia don kawo karshen Prague Spring, wani lokaci na sassaucin ra'ayi na siyasa a kasar Marxist-Leninist. Kodayake Gorbachev daga baya ya bayyana cewa yana da damuwa na sirri game da mamayewa, ya goyi bayan shi a bainar jama'a. A watan Satumbar 1969 ya kasance wani ɓangare na tawagar Soviet da aka aika zuwa Czechoslovakia, inda ya sami mutanen Czechoslovak galibi ba sa maraba da su. A waccan shekarar, hukumomin Soviet sun umurce shi da ya hukunta Fagien B. Sadykov, masanin kimiyyar noma da ke zaune a Stavropol wanda ra'ayoyinsa suka kasance masu sukar manufofin Soviet na aikin gona; Gorbachev ya tabbatar da cewa an kori Sadykov daga koyarwa amma ya yi watsi da kira don ya fuskanci hukunci mai tsanani. Gorbachev daga baya ya ba da labarin cewa abin da ya faru ya "ɓata masa rai sosai"; "lamirina ya dame ni" don kula da tsanantawar Sadykov.