It always seemed like the U.S. was fighting defensive wars against communism. We sent our troops to fight in Vietnam and Korea to prevent the spread of communism. The Soviets did not commit troops in either of these wars. Not only that, but I've never heard of them fighting a war anywhere to promote their government. Why did we have to fight but they did not? It seems unfair!
Yes, yes they did. They were funding and supporting numerous "anti-imperialistic", "national liberation" and similarly named movements in order to overthrow (by one means or another) "capitalistic regimes". Basically, if during the Cold War there was a government that called it self "People Democratic" or in similar fashion, Soviets were behind it. Some examples:
People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (1974–1991) People's Democratic Republic (1975–1991) People's Republic of Benin (1975–1990) People's Republic of Mozambique (1975–1990) People's Republic of Angola (1977–1991) Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (1978–1991)
Accordingly, Soviet maintained military presence around the word, (most notably in Cuba).
As for military actions- Soviets invaded Hungary and Czechoslovakia, when those states tried to move further away from USSR dictate.
And off course, there was the Afghanistan war (it is sometimes refereed as "Soviet Vietnam") were USSR send its forces to protect pro-soviet regime.