Eduard Shevardnadze

Eduard Ambrosis dze Shevardnadze (Georgian: ედუარდ ამბროსის ძე შევარდნაძე; 25 January 1928 – 7 July 2014) was a Soviet and Georgian politician and diplomat who governed Georgia for several non-consecutive periods from 1972 until his resignation in 2003 and also served as the final Soviet minister of foreign affairs from 1985 to 1991.

Shevardnadze started his political career in the late 1940s as a leading member of his local Komsomol organisation. He was later appointed its Second Secretary, then its First Secretary. His rise in the Georgian Soviet hierarchy continued until 1961, when he was demoted after insulting a senior official. After spending two years in obscurity, Shevardnadze returned as the First Secretary of a Tbilisi city district, and was able to charge the Tbilisi First Secretary at the time with corruption. His anti-corruption work quickly garnered the interest of the Soviet government and Shevardnadze was appointed as First Deputy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Georgian SSR. He would later become the head of the internal affairs ministry and was able to charge First Secretary (leader of Soviet Georgia) Vasil Mzhavanadze with corruption.

He served as First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party (GPC) from 1972 to 1985, which made him the de facto leader of Georgia. As First Secretary, Shevardnadze launched several economic reforms, which would spur economic growth in the republic—an uncommon occurrence in the Soviet Union at the time when the country was experiencing nationwide economic stagnation. Shevardnadze's anti-corruption campaign continued until he resigned from his office as First Secretary of the GPC.

In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev appointed Shevardnadze to the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs. He served in the position, except for a brief interruption between 1990 and 1991, until the fall of the Soviet Union. During that time, only Gorbachev outranked Shevardnadze in importance in Soviet foreign policy. Shevardnadze was responsible for many key decisions in Soviet foreign policy during the Gorbachev era and was seen by the outside world as the face of Soviet reforms, such as Perestroika.

In the aftermath of the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991, Shevardnadze returned to the newly independent Republic of Georgia after being asked to lead the country by the Military Council, which had recently deposed the country's first president, Zviad Gamsakhurdia. In 1992, Shevardnadze became the leader of Georgia (as Chairman of Parliament). He was formally elected as president in 1995. Under his rule, the Sochi agreement was signed, which effectively ended military hostilities in South Ossetia, although Georgia lost effective control over a large part of the territory. In August 1992, the war broke out in Abkhazia, which Georgia also lost. Shevardnadze also headed the country's government during the Georgian Civil War in 1993 against pro-Gamsakhurdia forces, which refused to recognize Shevardnadze as a legitimate leader and tried to regain power. the war ended with Shevardnadze's victory. In this regard, he signed a treaty of Georgia's accession to the Commonwealth of Independent States, in return receiving substantial assistance from Russia to end the conflict, although Georgia also deepened its ties with the European Union and the United States. Consequently, in 1999, he signed the country's accession to the Council of Europe, while in 2002, he declared his intention for Georgia to join NATO. Shevardnadze oversaw large-scale privatization and other political and economic changes. His rule was marked by rampant corruption and accusations of nepotism. Allegations of electoral fraud during the 2003 legislative election led to a series of public protests and demonstrations colloquially known as the Rose Revolution. Eventually, Shevardnadze agreed to resign. He later published his memoirs and lived in relative obscurity until he died in 2014.