The article is devoted to the period when the foreign policy of the USSR in relation to the socialist countries changed, when the "Gorbachev Doctrine" appeared in the period of Perestroika. M. S. Gorbachev was actively engaged in foreign policy issues, especially in the European direction. The author tries to find an answer to the question, how much he interested in the Balkans? To answer this question, the author turns to one of the significant events of that time – M. S. Gorbachev's visit to Yugoslavia in 1988. It was then that the foundations of our Balkan policy were laid, which manifested itself in the 1990s. The visit gave Mikhail Gorbachev an opportunity to get to know Yugoslavia better, to get a better idea of the life of the peoples of this country, to feel the love of the Yugoslavs for Russia and the Russian people. Fellow party members that were close to Gorbachev thought that it was during the years of Perestroika that a full understanding was reached between the leadership of the USSR and Yugoslavia. The contents of the conversations and the resulting documents gave to the Yugoslav side the assurance that mutual understanding attained in a case of possible difficulties would allow it to expect help and support from the USSR. It is this kind of assistance that Yugoslavia would need in two years, when the country began to fall apart, when Slovenia and Croatia decided to leave the Federation on their own and received full support from Germany and the United States. But Moscow refused to help.