By supporting the communist parties in those countries, the
USSR extended its sphere of influence into Yugoslavia and Albania.
After a fight between those who supported the USSR way of
Communism, Yugoslavia later on separated from the USSR, i.e Stalin, and those
who supported the socialistic way, who is Tito.
As a result of Soviet leader Nikita
Khrushchev's rapprochement with Yugoslavia along with
his "Secret Speech", which
include the efforts to extend those policies into Albania which also occurred in
other Eastern Bloc states during that time, the worsening of relations between
the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the People's Socialist Republic of Albania called
the Soviet-Albanian split happened.
The majority of the Roman empire is located around the Mediterranean, and their capitol, Rome, was located in Italy close the the Mediterranean Sea, thus by location they are part of the Mediterranean world. If you look at a map of the Roman Empire it might help explain their location on the shores of the Mediterranean.