On taking power , Gorbachev found some unrest among different national groups within the Soviet Union . In December 1986 , riots broke out in several Kazakh cities after a Russian was appointed head of the region . In 1987 , Crimean Tatars protested in Moscow to demand resettlement in Crimea , the area from which they had been deported on Stalin 's orders in 1944 . Gorbachev ordered a commission , headed by Gromyko , to examine their situation . By 1988 , the Soviet " nationality question " was increasingly pressing . In February , the administration of the Nagorno-Karabakh region officially requested that it be transferred from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic to the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic ; the majority of the region 's population were ethnically Armenian and wanted unification with other majority Armenian areas . As rival Armenian and Azerbaijani demonstrations took place in Nagorno-Karabakh , Gorbachev called an emergency meeting of the Politburo . Ultimately , Gorbachev promised greater autonomy for Nagorno-Karabakh but refused the transfer , fearing that it would set off similar ethnic tensions and demands throughout the Soviet Union
deported on Stalin 's orders in 1944
Deportation of the Crimean Tatars
Mikhail Gorbachev