The imposition of military dictatorship in Greece in 1967 was initially interpreted by Yugoslavia as a broader American plan to promote U.S. policy for controlling the Mediterranean and southern Balkans, which led to stagnation in bilateral relations.

A movement in bilateral relations occurred after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and the proclamation of the Brezhnev doctrine. From 1970-72, bilateral relations entered a phase of warming. Contributing factors included: the climate of détente in East-West relations, Yugoslavia's fear of a closer rapprochement between Greece and Bulgaria, Yugoslavia's orientation toward the U.S. and China, and other factors.

Despite the propaganda from Skopje, Athens and Belgrade did not see the Macedonian issue as an obstacle to the development of bilateral relations. The Soviet-Yugoslav rapprochement of 1973/74 and the elimination of the Soviet threat led to a regression in Greek-Yugoslav bilateral relations, in conjunction with developments in Greece.

Yugoslavia financially supported the anti-dictatorship struggle of the Greeks, particularly the Communist Party of Greece (Interior), which viewed the Yugoslav path to socialism as a model.

Spyridon Sfetas is an associate professor of Balkan History at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.