Significant historical, cultural and political links were nevertheless not reflected in close bilateral relations with tensions and strategic divisions continuing almost throughout the existence of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union.

[6] After the Russian Civil War ended in 1922 in a Bolshevik victory, relations between the interwar Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union remained frosty.

Starting from 1920, the government of the Kingdom of SHS welcomed tens of thousands of anti-Bolshevik Russian refugees,[3] mainly those who fled after the final defeat of the Russian Army under General Pyotr Wrangel in Crimea in November 1920, explaining its hospitality by presenting it as paying back the debt Serbia owed Russia for the latter's intervention on the side of Serbia at the outbreak of WWI.

[10] Ahead of the Moscow Conference in October 1943 Tito informed Soviet authorities that his movement does not recognize the Government in exile and that they will prevent the King of Yugoslavia in any effort to return to the country as it may initiate a civil war.

[13] With support in logistics and air power from the Western Allies, and Soviet ground troops in the final stage of the war during the Belgrade offensive, the Partisans eventually gained control of the entire country and of the border regions of Trieste and Carinthia.

In the first two years following the war, relations between FPRY and the Soviet leadership, which during that period sought to accommodate the USSR's Western allies demands in Europe, were not entirely free of disagreements on a number of issues, such as Yugoslavia's territorial claims to Italy's Free Territory of Trieste and the part of Austria's Carinthia populated by Carinthian Slovenes, Tito's efforts to play a leading role in the entire Balkans region, as well as over Stalin's reluctance to decisively support the Greek Communists in the Greek Civil War, who were actively supported by Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Albania.

Faced with East Bloc economic embargo and the possibility of a military attack Yugoslavia sought assistance from the West, mainly the United States.

[23] Yugoslav–Soviet normalization following Stalin’s death was influenced by the process of De-Stalinization, creation of the Non-Aligned Movement and was symbolized in an exchange of letters in March 1955 when Tito and Khrushchev agreed to meet in Belgrade.

[26] Contrary to Yugoslav verbal support to Soviet intervention in Hungary in 1956, Yugoslavia strongly condemned the invasion of Czechoslovakia which was perceived as a particularly close country.

On 12 July 1968 President of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito gave an interview to Egyptian daily Al-Ahram where he stated that he believes that Soviet leaders are not "such short-sighted people [...] who would pursue a policy of force to resolve the internal affairs of Czechoslovakia".

[27] Yugoslavia provided refuge for numerous Czechoslovak citizens (many on holidays) and politicians including Ota Šik, Jiří Hájek, František Vlasak and Štefan Gašparik.

Yugoslav diplomacy was once again alarmed by the 1979 Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, which similarly to Yugoslavia was at the time a non-aligned and socialist country outside of the Warsaw Pact.