Soviet Union’s Balkan opening during the Khrushchev Period: attempts to restore relations with Turkey, Yugoslavia and Greece

Abstract

The death of Stalin and Khrushchev’s taking the helm of the Soviet Union following outmatching of his rivals brought out a new foreign policy in the country in the early Cold War period which was called peaceful co-existence. The new foreign policy line anticipated foundation of manageable relations with the Western bloc countries without losing the revolutionary ardor to beat them in economic well-being, scientific progress and cultural development. A significant ramification of peaceful coexistence policy became the Soviet Union’s endeavor to straighten out its knotty relations with Turkey, Yugoslavia and Greece which had gone downhill due to Stalin’s immediate post-Second World War foreign policy decisions. This paper aims to cast light on the various diplomatic, economic and security initiatives taken by Moscow under the leadership of Khrushchev to release these three Balkan countries from the firm grip of the Western alliance and to gravitate them towards closer association with the Soviet Union.